The Bank of Russia has cancelled the results of the vote on symbols on the 500-ruble banknote

The Central Bank of Russia stated that votes for the objects to be depicted on the 500-ruble banknote were inflated, annulling the results. Voting will be held later under stricter conditions. Today, Elbrus significantly outperformed Grozny-City in online voting.

As reported by the " Caucasian Knot ," on October 10, Ramzan Kadyrov  announced a raffle for ten iPhone 17s among those who voted four times (on VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, by email, and on Gosuslugi) for the image of "Grozny-City" to appear on the back of the 500-ruble banknote and posted their votes on social media. Kadyrov's promise became a tool of influence, similar to the use of administrative resources in the Chechen elections. On the evening of October 10, the Bank of Russia made voting possible only by logging in through Gosuslugi. Chechen Minister Akhmed Dudayev accused the Central Bank of changing the rules of the game the moment "Grozny-City" became the leading voter.

The Bank of Russia has decided to cancel the vote to select symbols for the new 500-ruble banknote, according to the Bank of Russia's Telegram channel.

"We have encountered numerous attempts to use technical means to increase the number of votes for certain objects. This will prevent us from drawing objective voting results. New voting dates will be announced later. The list of voting symbols will remain the same. Based on an analysis of all voting channels, we will propose new conditions that will eliminate the possibility of fraudulent activity," the regulator reported.

 Voting on the Central Bank's website began on October 1 and was scheduled to close at 12:00 PM Moscow time on October 14. The results will influence the final design of the banknote.

The Bank of Russia's website no longer has voting results. According to screenshots posted on social media, Elbrus received 1,265,000 votes today, while Grozny-City received 1,078,000, according to a screenshot published by KMV.ru.

At the time of the Central Bank's post, "Elbrus" was ahead of "Grozny-City" by almost 200,000 votes, according to "Ostorozhno Novosti."

On October 10, the Dagestan Ministry of Tourism announced a raffle for an apartment, a car, and 10 iPhones among those who voted for the image of the Derbent Fortress to appear on the back of the 500-ruble banknote. Public sector employees are participating in the voting.

As a reminder, the idea of ​​depicting "Grozny-City" or Mount Elbrus on the new 500-ruble banknote was criticized by the "Russian Community," calling it  "ideological sabotage ." Blogger Max Divnich, who had clashed with "Akhmat," urged his followers to vote for Elbrus over Grozny.

Regional leaders called on residents to participate in the symbol selection, while social media users called the competition  far-fetched . Several symbols will be used on each side of the 500-ruble note, and the winner of the vote will not necessarily occupy the central place on the banknote, the Bank of Russia explained.

The idea of ​​depicting "Grozny-City" on the 500-ruble banknote, which the "Russian Community" is campaigning against, is presented by Kadyrov as a symbol of the success of the imperial project, while both sides in the conflict  are concerned  only with their own prestige and influence, and not with state unity.

The "Caucasian Knot" is compiling news stories related to the voting process for the 500-ruble banknote in a series titled " The Fight for 500 Rubles in the Caucasus ."

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/416259