Golos

The Movement for Defence of Voters' Rights "Golos", formerly GOLOS Association (Cyrillic: ГОЛОС, meaning "vote" or "voice") is a Russian organisation established in 2000 to protect the electoral rights of citizens and to foster civil society. As of 2008, the organisation covers 40 Russian regions. It is the only election watchdog active in Russia that is independent of the Russian government. Founding GOLOS was founded as an association of non-profit organizations in 2000 to support civil monitoring of elections. Funding Michael McFaul, a Russian ambassador at the time, claimed in 2012 that Golos was funded a US government agency. However, he didn't disclose details on for how long. Before being expelled from Russia in September 2012, USAID had been partly funding Golos. Activities Since 2002 GOLOS has monitored elections and referendums of all levels. The Telegraph describes GOLOS as being "one of the few organisations able to catalogue and publicise [the Kremlin's] attempts at fraud and intimidation".