Maksim Dvoinenko, senior lecturer at South Ural State University, analyst at the Social Networks Monitoring Centre of the Chelyabinsk Institute for the Development of Professional Education, became a member of the Public Headquarters for Election Control and Observation, created on the basis of the Public Chamber of the Chelyabinsk Region.
The main task of the headquarters is to carry out an independent examination of the pre-election campaign and the voting process to ensure the transparency and legitimacy of the electoral process.
“The importance of the work of the headquarters is very significant, it is connected both with the promotion of elections as an institution, and the training of public observers to organize the transparency of the procedure, and the involvement of young people,” comments Maksim Dvoinenko. “Our department studies the problem of spreading fakes in the virtual space and the development of electoral communication, since the Internet is in fact a new technology, and the society has not sufficiently developed critical thinking regarding the information disseminated in social networks. For me, this work is important not only as for a specialist in the analysis of the electoral process, but also as for a citizen, because only public control can make elections transparent and legitimate.”
The headquarters will form working groups that will work in the following areas: monitoring, legal, mobile, information areas and a group for the preparation and coordination of observers. The activities of the headquarters will be aimed at interacting with all subjects of the electoral process, including the electoral part of the population, parties, election commissions, government bodies and the media. In the near future, meetings will be held with political parties and major public associations.
The headquarters consists of 20 people - representatives of authoritative public organizations, leaders of public opinion, electoral lawyers and representatives of news agencies. Valeriy Shagiev, CEO of the Media Centre managing company, has been elected head of the headquarters.
“Everyone who joined the headquarters is a professional in one area or another, and the majority of citizens have a wealth of experience in observing the electoral process,” said Nikolai Deineko, chairman of the Public Chamber of the Chelyabinsk Region.
The work of the headquarters will continue until the approval of the election results.