Overview

• The regulator said multiple attempts to artificially boost tallies for some options made an objective count impossible.
• Officials plan a repeat vote with the same shortlist once revised rules are set to prevent non‑bona fide activity across channels.
• Before the halt, preliminary figures on October 11 showed Mount Elbrus slightly ahead of Grozny‑City for the reverse side design.
• Chechnya’s minister Ahmed Dudaev accused the bank of closing voting platforms such as Gosuslugi, email, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, then hailed the cancellation as ending a “nonobjective” contest.
• Regional incentives fueled the competition, with Ramzan Kadyrov promoting an iPhone giveaway for Grozny‑City and Dagestan’s tourism ministry scrapping its apartment and car raffle after the vote was called off.