United Russia could be in trouble over what appears to be a rather steamy election-campaign video.
Called “Let’s do it together,” the video portrays a boy and a girl flirting with each other at a ballot station and then shutting themselves inside a voting booth. After some time, the young “voters” leave, stroking their hair and clothes.
The provocative video, which immediately became a hit across social networks, outraged United Russia’s competitors. Although the party denied it has anything to do with the recording, deputies of other parties insist that the Prosecutor’s Office should thoroughly investigate the case.
“United Russia is calling on voters to violate the constitution, as Duma elections is the country are secret,” Gennady Gudkov, member of the Fair Russia party, told the Izvestia newspaper. “A voter must be alone in a voting booth. If the case is properly investigated, the authors of the video could face a serious fine and even a prison term.”
Election specialists, however, point out that as long as the video is not officially registered as part of a political campaign, there is no direct violation of law.
Mass media reported that the video was filmed by the team of the deputy head of the Duma information policy, Robert Shlegel. Party sources say that the idea was Shlegel’s own initiative. The official himself declined to comment on the project’s authorship, but said that the video was “fun”.
“The Internet is a competitive zone,” Shlegel said. “You have to be creative here. Young people love such videos, that’s why the idea is very appropriate.”
This is not the first time United Russia’s election campaign has raised eyebrows. Electioneering had barely begun, when various media reported that United Russia had instructed regional governors to deliver – at all costs – 65 percent of votes in the forthcoming elections.