Moscow: Twenty apartments! Hundred Cars! Gift Certificates In The Thousands! These are just some of the prizes up for grabs for the Russians this weekend. They just have to vote.
A year later saw a historic crackdown on the opposition and with the President Vladimir PutinWith the United Russia party faltering in elections, officials are doing everything possible to spur interest in parliamentary elections to be held over three days from Friday to Sunday.
So signs around Moscow are saying “a million prize” for voters who cast electronic ballots in the election, which is ready to hand over another majority despite its unpopularity to United Russia.
Kremlin’s top enemy Alexei Navalny in prison and other opponents sidelined, critics say vote is little more than rubber-stamping putinassociates of.
The campaign has faded with debate in late-night television slots and many voters in Moscow showing little enthusiasm.
“We have no real choice, we all know it and we all see it,” said 29-year-old theater lighting technician Grigory Matveev.
“I have gone (to vote) many times but it is nothing but a farce.”
The vote will see MPs elected to the 450-member lower house state duma, where United Russia currently has 334 seats, and several local legislatures.
Communists and nationalists along with the loyal “A Just Russia” party Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) – both nominal opposition parties that do not criticize Putin – occupy almost all the other seats.
Under normal circumstances, a united Russia should be vulnerable.
The standard of living of Russians has declined steadily over the past decade and they are again vulnerable to the economic slowdown induced by the pandemic. Disposable income has declined 10 percent since 2013 and prices are rising, with inflation reaching 6.7 percent in August.
Surrounded by allegations of corruption – Navalny called it “gangsters party And thieves” – United Russia has become a favorite target of disappointments.
Recent polls by state-run pollster VTsIOM show less than 30 percent of Russians plan to vote for the party, down from 40-45 percent in the weeks before the last parliamentary election in 2016.
But United Russia is widely expected to retain its two-thirds majority in the Duma, enough to replace the constitution as with reforms last year that allowed Putin to extend his rule until 2036. .
for leonido volkovy, a key ally of Navalny, the reason is simple: “This is not an election.”
Volkov, who is in exile, told AFP: “They kicked anyone out of the race, they made it impossible for other candidates to participate…
The year leading up to the vote has been one of the most repressive years of Putin’s two-decade rule.
After being poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in August 2020, Navalny returned from treatment in Germany in January and was promptly arrested, then jailed for more than two years.
His network of organizations was banned as “extremist”, many of his associates were arrested and many associates fled the country.
Authorities have also stepped up pressure on independent media, with many people slapped with “foreign agents” tags that limit their work and one outlet calling an “undesirable organization”.
The action came as pro-Putin parties suffered defeats in local elections because of a “smart voting” plan put forward by Navalny after his allies were barred from standing in several races.
The strategy called for voters to support a candidate most likely to defeat the ruling party and Kremlin-affiliated candidates slashed seats in the Moscow assembly in 2019.
Navalni’s team is calling on voters to do the same this year, but several alternative candidates have been barred from running and a website set up to promote the campaign has been blocked.
“The Kremlin fights like hell against smart voting because they have measured the potential impact … and they very well know it can be huge,” Volkov said.
Putin – whose popularity remains high with an approval rating of 60-65 percent – paid 10,000 rubles ($137/116 euros) to pensioners and 15,000 rubles ($205/174 euros) to pensioners to boost the prospects of a united Russia. ) cash handout has been ordered. And the soldiers ahead of the vote.
His supporters say that confidence in the president – whom many still see as a steady hand after the chaos of the 1990s – will help push United Russia to the top.
“People trust the authorities … What they want is economic growth, to feel safe, and these are all things that the Russian authorities ensure today,” Pyotr Tolstoy, United Russia’s vice president in the Duma, predicted to AFP. Said while doing Majority victory for his party.
A year later saw a historic crackdown on the opposition and with the President Vladimir PutinWith the United Russia party faltering in elections, officials are doing everything possible to spur interest in parliamentary elections to be held over three days from Friday to Sunday.
So signs around Moscow are saying “a million prize” for voters who cast electronic ballots in the election, which is ready to hand over another majority despite its unpopularity to United Russia.
Kremlin’s top enemy Alexei Navalny in prison and other opponents sidelined, critics say vote is little more than rubber-stamping putinassociates of.
The campaign has faded with debate in late-night television slots and many voters in Moscow showing little enthusiasm.
“We have no real choice, we all know it and we all see it,” said 29-year-old theater lighting technician Grigory Matveev.
“I have gone (to vote) many times but it is nothing but a farce.”
The vote will see MPs elected to the 450-member lower house state duma, where United Russia currently has 334 seats, and several local legislatures.
Communists and nationalists along with the loyal “A Just Russia” party Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) – both nominal opposition parties that do not criticize Putin – occupy almost all the other seats.
Under normal circumstances, a united Russia should be vulnerable.
The standard of living of Russians has declined steadily over the past decade and they are again vulnerable to the economic slowdown induced by the pandemic. Disposable income has declined 10 percent since 2013 and prices are rising, with inflation reaching 6.7 percent in August.
Surrounded by allegations of corruption – Navalny called it “gangsters party And thieves” – United Russia has become a favorite target of disappointments.
Recent polls by state-run pollster VTsIOM show less than 30 percent of Russians plan to vote for the party, down from 40-45 percent in the weeks before the last parliamentary election in 2016.
But United Russia is widely expected to retain its two-thirds majority in the Duma, enough to replace the constitution as with reforms last year that allowed Putin to extend his rule until 2036. .
for leonido volkovy, a key ally of Navalny, the reason is simple: “This is not an election.”
Volkov, who is in exile, told AFP: “They kicked anyone out of the race, they made it impossible for other candidates to participate…
The year leading up to the vote has been one of the most repressive years of Putin’s two-decade rule.
After being poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in August 2020, Navalny returned from treatment in Germany in January and was promptly arrested, then jailed for more than two years.
His network of organizations was banned as “extremist”, many of his associates were arrested and many associates fled the country.
Authorities have also stepped up pressure on independent media, with many people slapped with “foreign agents” tags that limit their work and one outlet calling an “undesirable organization”.
The action came as pro-Putin parties suffered defeats in local elections because of a “smart voting” plan put forward by Navalny after his allies were barred from standing in several races.
The strategy called for voters to support a candidate most likely to defeat the ruling party and Kremlin-affiliated candidates slashed seats in the Moscow assembly in 2019.
Navalni’s team is calling on voters to do the same this year, but several alternative candidates have been barred from running and a website set up to promote the campaign has been blocked.
“The Kremlin fights like hell against smart voting because they have measured the potential impact … and they very well know it can be huge,” Volkov said.
Putin – whose popularity remains high with an approval rating of 60-65 percent – paid 10,000 rubles ($137/116 euros) to pensioners and 15,000 rubles ($205/174 euros) to pensioners to boost the prospects of a united Russia. ) cash handout has been ordered. And the soldiers ahead of the vote.
His supporters say that confidence in the president – whom many still see as a steady hand after the chaos of the 1990s – will help push United Russia to the top.
“People trust the authorities … What they want is economic growth, to feel safe, and these are all things that the Russian authorities ensure today,” Pyotr Tolstoy, United Russia’s vice president in the Duma, predicted to AFP. Said while doing Majority victory for his party.
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