Ella Pamfilova

Ella Pamfilova
Элла Памфилова
Pamfilova in 2025
Chair of the Central Election Commission
Assumed office
28 March 2016
PresidentVladimir Putin
Preceded byVladimir Churov
4th Commissioner for Human Rights
In office
18 March 2014 – 25 March 2016
PresidentVladimir Putin
Preceded byVladimir Lukin
Succeeded byTatyana Moskalkova
Chair of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights
In office
6 November 2004 – 30 July 2010
PresidentVladimir Putin
Dmitry Medvedev
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byMikhail Fedotov
Minister of Social Protection
In office
15 November 1991 – 2 March 1994
Prime MinisterBoris Yeltsin (extraordinary)
Yegor Gaidar (acting)
Viktor Chernomyrdin
Preceded byViktor Kaznacheyev
Succeeded byLyudmila Bezlepkina
Personal details
BornElla Aleksandrovna Pamfilova
(1953-09-12) 12 September 1953
Olmaliq, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union (now Uzbekistan)
PartyIndependent
Other political
affiliations
Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1985—1990)
Republican Party of Russia (1995—1996)
Alma materMoscow Power Engineering Institute
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Ella Alexanderovna Pamfilova (Russian: Элла Александровна Памфилова, née Lekomtseva [Лекомцева]; born 12 September 1953) is a Russian politician serving as chair of Russia's Central Election Commission since March 2016. Previously she served as Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights from 2014 to 2016, and as Minister of Social Protection from 1991 to 1994. She also chaired the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights from 2004 to 2010, and was a deputy of the 1st and 2nd convocations of the State Duma. She ran as a candidate during the 2000 Russian presidential election, becoming the first female presidential candidate in Russian history, and received 1.01% of the vote.

In December 2017, Pamfilova barred Alexei Navalny from participating in the following presidential election. In January 2024, she barred Boris Nadezhdin from participating in the following presidential election.

In March 2022, Canada imposed sanctions on Pamfilova as part of "close associates of the regime", following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since October 2022, she has been under sanctions of the European Union for "organising the illegal referenda in the occupied regions of Ukraine". In November 2022, she was added to the UK sanctions list for "organising the sham referendums in the four temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine" and "actively supporting Russia’s forced mobilisation".

In December 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against Pamfilova for "overseeing and monitoring sham referendums held in areas of Russia-controlled Ukraine that were rife with incidents of clear voter coercion and intimidation". For similar reasons, she is also on the sanctions lists of Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland. She has been under Japan's sanctions since January 2023.