According to the RIA news agency, Russia’s ruling party United Russia has lost around a third of its seats in the local elections in Moscow. With presumably 26 of the 45 deputies, the party standing behind President Vladimir Putin but retains its majority in the city council, as RIA reported citing results after counting almost all votes.
In the run-up to the election, the capital had witnessed the biggest protests in almost ten years, after numerous opposition politicians were excluded from candidacy – including prominent government critic Alexander Nawalny. He then called on his followers to give their vote to the most promising opponents of the ruling party.
Two candidates of the Kremlin party lost their seats. The moderate opposition party Yabloko won three candidates in the largest city in Europe. Among them was the prominent politician Sergei Mitrokhin, who had obtained admission in court. The remaining MPs come from the Communists and other systemically loyal parties.
Hundreds of manipulation attempts
In the most important for the Kremlin gubernatorial elections throughout Russia, the candidates of the power apparatus were awarded everywhere the victory. In total, 56 million voters were called to vote – almost half of Russia’s electorate. The turnout was sometimes very low. In Moscow, it was 21.63 percent – about as high as in 2014.
Election observers reported hundreds of reports of attempts at manipulation and disability in their work. There were big protests before the election because dozens of opposition and Kremlin critics had been excluded from the vote.
