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In Russia, new governors and regional parliaments are elected. The vote is seen as a major test of courage, also in view of the poisoning of Kremlin critic Nawal.new.
By Stephan Laack, WDR
Eleven regional parliaments, 18 governor seats and 22 councilors will be filled in Russia’s elections. Voting will take place until Sunday. And this vote is under special auspices, since the opposition Alexei Navalny was poisoned during the electoral campaign. In particular, he asked voters critical of the Kremlin to vote.
“This gives each of them their own little chance to hit the party in power with a sharp stick and explain that they are leading the country in the wrong direction,” he says. “The difficulty, however, is that people are not interested in their regional elections and have no idea why regional deputies are really necessary. The Kremlin knows how to use that.”
Urns with a new meaning
Traditionally, voter turnout in regional elections is quite low. More recently, it averaged just under 30 percent. However, there are some regions in this vote that are particularly exciting. For example, in Arkhangelsk, in the far north, spirits are raging towards the Kremlin over the construction of a controversial landfill to dispose of the capital’s garbage. And in Novosibirsk, Russia’s third-largest city, Navalny’s team fights for power.
For the political scientist Alexander Kinew, this is a very special constellation: “The competition is particularly fierce. Two powerful parties have dominated so far: the governor of the Kremlin party, United Russia, and the mayor is provided by the communist party.”
Kinew believes that there may be high voter turnout in individual regions, as the protest atmosphere there, but not least the Nawalny poisoning, may have motivated many opponents of the government to participate in the vote. And, of course, the regional elections are also a test of humor for President Putin: “The United Russia party is like Putin’s shadow. If approval falls, the party’s values fall. If the size of the basic structure falls. reduces, its shadow is also reduced. ” “
With “Smart Voting” against United Russia
This time, Navalny sees an opportunity to fundamentally change something in Russia. That is why it also propagates the so-called “smart vote”, that is, to support the opposition candidate who has the best chance of beating the Kremlin candidate.
“If the United Russia members lose the majority, their power disappears in an instant,” Navalny said. “If there is no majority in a parliament, you cannot control the electoral commissions. If you do not control the electoral commissions, you cannot falsify the electoral results. If you cannot falsify the electoral results, then what?”
The political scientist Kinew does not consider manipulation of the result ruled out, a generalized falsification is not expected: “There are regions that carry out more or less honest votes. There are also those in which there is no falsification. We will do it later. Look closely.”
The first reliable results are expected in the course of Monday.
