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In an open letter to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Prosecutor General Yury Chaika, dozens of German scientists and representatives of think tanks protest against the listing of EPDE as “undesirable organisation”.

The listing of EPDE as „undesirable foreign organisation“ in Russia limits, in the first instance, the rights of Russian citizen election observers and isolates them from international election observation.

EPDE has become the target of orchestrated smear and defamation campaigns by the Russian media in the run-up to the Russian presidential election.

The German-Russian Exchange (DRA) declares solidarity with EPDE and IESC, and their striving to promote independent non-governmental international election observation, which can contribute to the legitimacy of fair elections.

“Golos” experts analysed information from long-term observers in the regions as well as information from the media and the crowdsourcing service "Map of Violations."

Current legislative restrictions on the right to be elected president that relate to previous convictions and the need for the presidential nominee to have a valid residence permit, are excessive, unfair, and undemocratic.

In 2012-2017, 15 changes were introduced to the Federal law “On elections of the President of the Russian Federation,” changing 59 out of 87 articles.