After the regional elections in Russia overshadowed by allegations of fraud, the final results are expected today. Then it will be clear whether the Kremlin’s United Russia party lost votes in the face of growing protest mood in the country. However, after the first results of the night, there were signs that President Vladimir Putin’s party maintained its majority.
There were more than 9,000 different elections at different levels. It was about governors, city councilors, mayors and individual members of the State Duma in Moscow, whose posts had to be filled for various reasons.
Millions of people were called to vote. It was the first election since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and following the controversial constitutional amendment in June that gives Putin more powers.
The vote also fell at a time of widespread dissatisfaction. In the east of the country people have been demonstrating for weeks – after the imprisonment of the ex-governor of Khabarovsk, also against excessive influence of Moscow on the region on the border with China.
As a result of the crisis, the number of unemployed has risen sharply, and a trend reversal is not in sight. Not least because of this, the regional elections were seen as an important test of sentiment for next year’s parliamentary elections.
Election Observer: Irregularities
The opposition had to do without its most important leader, Alexei Navalny. The 44-year-old has been treated for more than three weeks in the Charite University Clinic in Berlin after being poisoned. His team had called for not voting for the Kremlin Party candidates. It is expected that Nawalny’s staff will also present an evaluation of the vote.
Yesterday, observers complained about many irregularities in voting. The Golos election observation group counted more than 1,000 reports of possible rule violations, the Interior Ministry said 2,500 since the beginning of the election campaign. It has often been criticized that because of the pandemic no or only limited election campaigns were possible.
