A woman exits a voting booth to cast her ballot at a polling station in Kursk, Russia, 7 September 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

An election observer in St. Petersburg has been ordered to spend five days in detention and to pay a fine of 30,000 rubles (€297) for writing an anti-war message on her ballot paper during the city’s municipal elections last week, local news outlet Rotonda reported on Tuesday.

Marina Popova, who was charged with “petty hooliganism” and “discrediting the army” for writing “no to war” in bright blue ink across her ballot paper, told Rotonda that a member of the local election commission denounced her for submitted her own ballot paper with an anti-war slogan on it.

The man who reported her asked not to be named, telling St. Petersburg news outlet Fontanka that he had felt it was his “civic duty” to report Popova’s actions.

Regional and municipal elections took place across Russia and in annexed Crimea from Friday to Sunday, with all 21 incumbent Putin-appointed regional governors who had been standing for re-election winning with comfortable majorities. The ruling United Russia party, meanwhile, won in all 10 regions where parliamentary elections were held.

Independent election monitor Golos reported almost 650 potential violations during the three-day vote, including incidents of alleged bribery, ballot-stuffing and online voting inconsistencies.