MOSCOW, February 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russian electoral officials were at a loss after a candidate circumvented a ban on gifts to voters by printing out mug-shaped “campaign leaflets” on a 3D printer, media reported.
Russian legislation explicitly prohibits plying the electorate with bags, mugs, pens and similar souvenirs during campaigns, but printed production is an exception.
The advent of technology created a legal loophole that one candidate for election in the Moscow Region district of Sergiyev Posad did not fail to exploit, Znak.com news website reported.
Sergei Pakhomov used a 3D printer to print out mugs promoting his bid for the head of the district administration, billing them “leaflets” since they were, after all, printed.
Local electoral authorities have so far failed to prohibit the tech-savvy candidate from distributing the mug-shaped leaflets to voters ahead of Sunday’s election, the report said Monday.
The market for 3D printing technology, which was patented in 1984, began to bloom in the 2010s as costs decreased dramatically and printers became available to the general public.
It has already posed legal complications for other authorities worldwide, most notably over blueprints for plastic firearms produced by the US-based crowd-funded group Defense Distributed in 2012.
The US State Department demanded last year that the blueprints, available via torrent websites, be taken down by the group.
