The Russians went to the polls on Sunday for the last day of the legislative elections, an election which should be won by the ruling United Russia party – despite its unpopularity – after months of repression which have severely weakened the detractors of President Vladimir Putin.
The vote, held over three days, from Friday to Sunday, aims to renew the 450 terms of deputies of the Duma, the lower house of Parliament currently dominated by United Russia. Local and regional elections also take place.
Some 108 million Russians are being called to the polls until 8:00 p.m. local Sunday, with the first estimates expected at the end of the evening. At 0700 GMT Sunday, the participation in the legislative elections reached 35.69% according to the Electoral Commission.
According to a list by the specialist NGO Golos, more than 3,500 possible irregularities have been reported since the start of the vote, including ballot stuffing and pressure to vote.
Kirill Sergeiénko, a 43-year-old voter, told AFP that he had come to vote especially on Sunday in St. Petersburg, hoping that there would be “less possibility of fraud” on the last day of the polls.
“Your voice matters”
Almost no anti-Putin candidate having been allowed to run for the legislative elections, supporters of the opponent Alexeï Navalny had set up a so-called “smart vote” strategy intended to support the candidate – often Communist – the best placed to hinder that of power.
The opponent, detained in a penal colony a hundred kilometers from the Russian capital, once again urged his supporters to vote by following his instructions.
“Today your voice really matters,” he wrote in a social media post on Sunday. “Vote and persuade others to vote. Don’t be lazy, please.”
In the past, this tactic had met with some success, especially in Moscow, and the authorities this time set about blocking all access to these instructions, putting the internet giants under pressure.
Google and Apple thus agreed on Friday to remove the mobile application of Alexeï Navalny’s “smart vote” from their store. His supporters recognized a “huge victory” for the Kremlin and accused the two American firms of “giving in to blackmail”.
Most of the opposition having been banned from the ballot, United Russia should nevertheless win, for lack of real competition and despite a popularity rating of less than 30%, according to the state polling center VTsIOM.
The other parties represented in the Duma – communists, nationalists and centrists – are on the whole in line with President Putin, who remains popular.
Reference-feedproxy.google.com