In most regions, the conditions for campaigning were improved as compared to the previous elections. However, the candidates were not provided with equal rights; pro-government candidates enjoyed better conditions for campaigning: they made extensive use of the administrative resources, including electronic and print media; there were cases of pro-government candidates’ meetings with voters during working hours, reporting inaccurate or false information about the schedule of meetings on the websites of local governments.

On the invitation of MEPs Heidi Hautala and Rebecca Harms of the Green faction in the European Parliament, Golos experts presented their first conclusions on the preparations of the parliamentary campaign in Russia. According to the Golos’ expert Stanislav Andreychuk, campaigning of several candidates supported by the ruling United Russia party during the regular regional and local elections is supported by companies registered in European countries, which contradicts the Russian law according to which foreign founding for a broad spectrum of political activities is strictly forbidden.

On October 25, Ukraine held elections to regional, district, city, town, and village councils, as well as elections of heads of cities, towns, and villages. Elections of regional, district, and city councils used what is, for Ukraine, a new version of the proportional election system, in which political party lists are divided into parts corresponding to territorial constituencies (equal to the number of mandates), and where each part may not include more than one candidate. Such a model created the illusion among voters that they are voting for specific candidates (as they would in the majority election system), while in reality their vote went primarily to political parties.