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What happens to a pollster when Russia doesn't like the results?
Source: The Moscow Times via The Guardian
What happens to a pollster when Russia doesn't like the results?
Eva Hartog for the Moscow Times, part of the New East network
Tuesday 20 September 2016 12.21 BST
When Russia’s most respected independent polling centre received the news that it had been labelled a “foreign agent” – a Soviet-era term with connotations of espionage – nobody who worked there was surprised.
The ruling came less than two weeks before Russia’s parliamentary elections and just after Levada had published findings of an 8% drop in the approval ratings of the ruling party, United Russia
On 5 September the Justice Ministry added the Levada Centre to its ever growing register of so-called agents after accusing the NGO of being engaged in “political activity” and receiving funding from abroad.
In the short term, the Levada Centre will have to identify itself as a “foreign agent” when it carries out surveys. In the long term the fear is that government audits, an absence of funding and increased stigma will grind their work to a halt.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Eva Hartog for the Moscow Times, part of the New East network
Tuesday 20 September 2016 12.21 BST
When Russia’s most respected independent polling centre received the news that it had been labelled a “foreign agent” – a Soviet-era term with connotations of espionage – nobody who worked there was surprised.
The ruling came less than two weeks before Russia’s parliamentary elections and just after Levada had published findings of an 8% drop in the approval ratings of the ruling party, United Russia
On 5 September the Justice Ministry added the Levada Centre to its ever growing register of so-called agents after accusing the NGO of being engaged in “political activity” and receiving funding from abroad.
In the short term, the Levada Centre will have to identify itself as a “foreign agent” when it carries out surveys. In the long term the fear is that government audits, an absence of funding and increased stigma will grind their work to a halt.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/20/ollster-russia-results-levada-centre-kremlin-foreign-agent-list
