Russians voted on Sunday in the final phase of a three-day parliamentary election that the ruling party is expected to win after sweeping crackdown on Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s movement and a sweeping crackdown that barred opponents from running. An expected victory by the ruling United Russia party will be used by the Kremlin as proof of support for President Vladimir Putin, despite years of faltering living standards.
State surveyors say the party that supports the 68-year-old leader is facing a ratings decline but is more popular on the ballot than its closest rivals, the Communist Party and the nationalist LDPR party, which often backs the Kremlin. Is.
The United Russia holds about three-quarters of the 450 seats in the State Duma. That dominance last year helped the Kremlin pass constitutional reforms that allow Putin to run for two more terms as president after 2024, possibly remaining in power until 2036.
“If United Russia manages (to win), our country can expect to lose the next five years of poverty, five years of repression, five years,” ran a message to supporters on Navalny’s blog this week. .
Navalny’s aides were barred from walking after his movement as a militant was banned in June. Other opposition figures allege that they were targeted by dirty tricks.
A communist strawberry tycoon says he was unfairly banned, while a liberal opposition politician in St Petersburg says two similarly named “spoiler” candidates are running against him to confuse his voters.
strategic voting
The Kremlin denies the politically driven action and says individuals are prosecuted for breaking the law. Both it and United Russia deny any role in the registration process for the candidates.
Navalny’s camp is promoting a tactical voting ploy against the ruling party, which is equivalent to supporting a candidate who defeats United Russia in a given electoral district. Officials have attempted to block the initiative online.
“One day we will live in Russia where it will be possible to vote for good candidates with different political platforms,” Navalny’s aide Leonid Volkov wrote on the Telegram messenger.
“And Navalny’s party will compete for a seat in parliament in fair and competitive elections. But for now ‘smart voting’ is voting Navalni.”
Since voting began on Friday, Google, Apple and Telegram Messenger have limited some access to strategic voting campaigns, with key activists accusing them of succumbing to government pressure. Apple and Google have not responded to the allegation.
The Central Election Commission reported 35.7% turnout as of 10:00 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) on Sunday.
The election runs until 1800 GMT on Sunday when polling stations in Kaliningrad’s European Exclave are closed. This is the last national vote before the 2024 presidential election. Putin, who turns 69 next month, has not said whether he will run or not.
In Moscow, the tactical voting campaign led by Navalny – who is serving a two-and-a-half year prison sentence for alleged parole violations – has recommended his supporters vote for politicians such as the Communist Party’s Mikhail Lobanov.
“People see clear inequalities, they feel the effects of economic policy and repression, and react with discontent accordingly,” Lobanov said.
A Moscow pensioner who gave his name only as Anatoly said he voted for United Russia because he was proud of Russia’s powerful foreign policy and the efforts of Putin in what he saw as Russia’s true great power position.
“Countries like the United States and Britain now respect us more or less like they respected the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 70s… Anglo-Saxons only understand the language of force,” he said.
Other voters expressed anger at United Russia at a polling station in the capital of more than 12.5 million, where United Russia has fared poorly in recent years compared to other regions.
“I am always against United Russia,” said Roman Malakhov, who voted for the Communists. “They haven’t done anything good.”
(Additional reporting by Polina Nikolskaya and Gabrielle Tetroult-Farber; Editing by Toby Chopra and Raisa Kasolovsky)
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