Statistical forensics of election fraud in Russia and other post-Soviet countries

After a brief period of free and fair---if imperfect---elections in Russia in the 1990s, the 2000s saw a resurgence of Soviet-bloc practices in which the desired result is attained through purely administrative means up to and including direct falsifications. I will show how to reveal and quantify these falsifications by applying simple statistical tools to fine-grained election data. I will also present a couple of examples from other post-Soviet countries.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this talk are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the university.