The Russian vote monitoring group Golos (Voice) denounced the recent Russian presidential election on Sunday, characterizing it as the most unconstitutional in history.

Voice is an independent organization with a history of monitoring electoral activities and advocating for electoral integrity. Their assessment of the 2024 election analyzed and covered all stages of the process, issuing three reports covering legal aspects of campaigning efforts. Utilizing information from observers, media representatives, voters and various partner organizations, Voice aimed to provide comprehensive insights into the electoral landscape.

Voice found that the 2024 election campaign featured several notable features, reflecting a departure from established democratic norms. These included the manipulation of legislation, restriction of passive suffrage, lack of free public political discussion and coercion of voters to vote. Administrative coercion underpinned the recent elections, making the voluntary nature of voting “impossible.” The extensive changes to electoral legislation ahead of the 2024 elections, totaling 52 out of 87 articles, were perceived as attempts to restrict electoral rights and limit public oversight. 

Voice made further observations on the voting days of March 15-17, 2024, highlighting significant irregularities and challenges to the integrity of the electoral process. These included limited opportunities for election observation and non-compliance with voting procedures. Attention was also given to violence, voter Intimidation and the failures in remote electronic voting systems.

The UK‘s Defence Secretary Grant Shapps remarked on X that Putin has “stolen another election,” and NATO‘s Secretary General has called the system “completely illegal.” Following protests against President Putin’s extended rule, political unrest in Russia also came under scrutiny by OVD-Info.