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- In the regions of the country, millions of people were called to vote. According to projections, the United Russia Kremlin party won a clear election.
- However, supporters of Russian opposition activist and poison victim Alexei Navalny achieved some rare successes in local elections in Siberia.
- Navalny’s supporters won elections for the city administration in Novosibirsk, Russia’s third-largest city in terms of population, and the Kremlin party is likely to lose a majority in Tomsk’s council.
According to preliminary information, two of Nawalny’s employees arrived at Tomsk city hall, as the Interfax agency announced on Monday. The city is about 2,900 kilometers east of Moscow in a straight line.
The Kremlin Party, United Russia, lost its majority in the city parliament with its 37 seats in Tomsk. After counting all the ballots, the dominant party in Russia achieved 24.47 percent. That corresponded to 11 seats.
A member of the Tomsk Election Commission, Tatyana Doroshenko, said she could not recall that “United Russia” had done so badly in the 15 years she was in office.
Some polling stations in Russia were already open on Friday. According to their own statements, the authorities wanted to reduce the risk of infection by the corona virus. Critics feared manipulation because it would be difficult to control the elections for three days.
The regional elections are an important test of sentiment, also for next year’s parliamentary elections. Due to the crown crisis, unemployment has risen enormously in the world’s largest country in terms of area. Experts spoke of great discontent in the country.
The vote also has the impression of the poisoning of the opponent Alexej Navalny, who has been treated in Berlin for three weeks. His team had asked voters to vote for any candidate except the United Russia Kremlin party to break its power.
It was the first election since the controversial referendum on a new constitution, which gives Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin significantly more powers and allows him to remain in power until 2036.
