On September 19, a mass rally organised by representatives of the Chechen diaspora in Austria took place in the centre of Vienna. The rally participants declared the Chechen elections for the head of the republic and parliament illegitimate.
The organiser of the public event was Roza Dunaeva and protest was attended by about 30 people. In addition to Chechens, there were emigrants from Ukraine, Syria, Belarus, and Afghanistan. They held posters and the speakers spoke in Russian and German. The rally took place in the square near the Vienna Opera.
"As you know, the supremacy of the Constitution, adopted by the free expression of the will of the people, is the basis for holding free and democratic elections. Let us recall the circumstances under which the current constitution of the Chechen Federal Republic was adopted in March 2003 - at gunpoint of Russian weapons, in the conditions of Russian military terror against the Chechen people, in the context of Russian mass crimes against humanity and war crimes on the territory of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria," the rally participants said.
Considering that the current constitution of Chechnya is not legitimate, the participants also declared the illegality of the elections.
As part of the three-day voting on September 17-19, in Chechnya, in addition to the elections for the State Duma deputies, direct elections were held for the head of the republic and deputies of the regional parliament.
By the evening of the third day of voting, September 19, the voter turnout in Chechnya was 93.37%, or almost 700,000 residents of the federal republic. The current head of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, following the results of processing 53.28% of the protocols, is in the lead and has 99.63% of the votes in the election for the head of the region, according to the scoreboard from the information centre of the CEC.
According to the Golos project (included in the list of foreign agents in Russia), all regions of the North Caucasus Federal District and most regions of the South of Russia were among the subjects where the election results could potentially be falsified.
On the first day of elections in Russia, they noted the massive participation of employees of budgetary organisations, military personnel, and law enforcement officers. At the same time, some state employees were persuaded to detach from their regular voting sites and vote in different ones.
As a result of the second day of voting, Chechnya became the leader among the regions in terms of voter turnout.
