Scepticism at Putin plans for webcams in Russian election

By Wolfgang Jung Feb 16, 2012, 12:31 GMT

Moscow - Russians will be able to observe proceedings in the 96,000 polling stations across the huge country on March 4 by means of webcams, following allegations of widespread fraud during the December parliamentary elections.

A click of the mouse should provide a view of what polling officials are up to, according to a scheme put forward by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is bidding to return to the presidency.

Opposition politicians and election monitors are sceptical of the mammoth plan, calling it an expensive absurdity in a country where many people still lack basic medical care.

It will cost around 450 million dollars, with 600 tonnes of electronic kit being imported, as Russia is unable to meet the need itself. Laying fibre optic cable in temperatures plunging to minus 40 degrees Celsius is likely to prove costly.

'The two cameras planned for each polling station will not prevent fraud,' says Heidi Tagliavini, a Swiss diplomat heading the election monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

There are to be thousands of monitors in the polling stations this time to ensure proceedings are free and fair. They are worried about technical problems or faked documents when the cameras are turned off, but Putin insists that the webcams will prevent fraud.

Computer experts such as Yevgeni Bogera are sceptical.

'The footage is easy to fake, as the cameras being used do not have a digital time stamp showing date and time. This is worthless junk that Putin has chosen here and does not provide a guarantee,' Bogera told Itogi magazine.

Oligarch challenger Mikhail Prokhorov is also critical. 'The webcams will monitor the polling, but during the crucial counting of the votes they will be turned off.'

Putin, who was president during 2000-08, has already encountered severe criticism for a similar idea he put forward following widespread forest fires in the summer of 2010, when he ordered that the reconstruction of homes destroyed by the fires should be monitored on camera.

All that was to be seen were 'meadows and fields', in the words of one newspaper, as the authorities acknowledged technical problems.

But Telecommunications Deputy Minister Ilya Massukh says lessons have been learned and that 60,000 people per camera will be able to watch transmissions during the election.

It will be necessary to register in order to be issued a password, according to Massukh, and the authorities are aiming to take things 'extremely seriously' when the cameras are rolling. 'Anyone making faces in the polling stations will be fined.'

Computer journalist ¿lga Andronova remains unconvinced.

'There will be no cameras in polling stations in prisons, military barracks or hospitals for example. That means there will be lots of blind spots,' she wrote in an internet blog.

In addition, the recorded footage will amount to a total of almost 2,500 years. 'Who on earth is going to watch that?' Andronova asks.

There was severe criticism of the way the December 4 parliamentary elections were conducted, and a recent survey the Levada opinion research centre shows that 67 per cent of the electorate are sceptical that the March election will be free and fair, despite Putin's initiative.

'Russians want reforms and a dialogue between the government and the opposition,' says Levada spokesman Alexei Grashdankin. 'Internet cameras are no substitute.'