Russia’s sole independent election monitoring movement “Golos” falls silent

Russia’s sole independent election monitoring movement, Golos, has ceased operations following the sentencing in May of its co-chair, Grigory Melkonyants, to five years in a penal colony on charges of “organising activities for an undesirable organisation”.

In a direct blow to civil society, the sentence effectively silenced an institution long committed to exposing electoral manipulation and defending democratic standards.

Golos announced on Tuesday (8 July) that it was shutting down operations. The organisation first angered the authorities by publishing evidence of electoral fraud during the 2011 parliamentary elections, which sparked opposition protests. The movement also issued sharp criticism of the presidential elections in 2012 and again in 2024.

Authorities dismissed the allegations of fraud and later designated Golos a “foreign agent” – a negative and stigmatizing label with Soviet overtones, evoking associations with espionage, Reuters noted.

Melkonyants was sentenced in May to five years in a penal colony after being found guilty of cooperating with an “undesirable organization.” He has rejected the charges brought against him.

On Tuesday Golos stated that Melkonyants’s conviction – which it views as an attempt to silence him, along with continued hostility from the authorities toward its activities, left the movement with no option but to close, despite its long-standing role as a valuable nonpartisan contributor to Russian civil society.

“The court decision left us no choice, as it put not only the members of Golos at risk of prosecution, but even those who merely sought consultations and legal assistance,” the movement said in a statement.

“Justice, alas, does not always prevail – we must fight for it. And there is always a risk of losing. This time, that is what happened,” the statement concluded.

The organisation was founded in 2000.

Melkonyants was arrested in August 2023 as part of a broader crackdown on Kremlin critics and opponents, which intensified against the backdrop of Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine.

The prosecution accused him of cooperating with a European election monitoring association – the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations – which had been declared an “undesirable organisation” in Russia.

Such a designation effectively bans the group from operating in the country and criminalises any form of cooperation with it.

Melkonyants said he had been forced to change cells eight times and had been held with over 100 different cellmates since his arrest.

Co-chair Stanislav Andreichuk described the sentencing in May as a clear message to dissidents: “This absurd case… defies easy explanation”. The timing couldn’t be more significant: with Russia preparing for September’s parliamentary elections, the ousting of its most credible watchdog leaves the electoral process entirely unmonitored.

International human rights advocates and groups like the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions have also condemned the verdict, warning that it undermines both human rights and electoral integrity.

Caption: Grigory Melkonyants (R), co-chair of Russia’s leading independent election monitoring group Golos, stands inside a defendant’s cage as he attends a verdict hearing at Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, 14 May 2025. Melkonyants was arrested in August 2023 and charged with being involved in the work of an ‘undesirable’ non-governmental organisation. The court sentenced Melkonyants to 5 years in prison. EPA/SERGEI ILNITSKY