Russia (Washington Insider Magazine) -The party United Russia are on course for yet another victory as Russia holds a 3-day election to its Duma. Early results put the party in the lead and exit polls have corroborated this.
Much of Western media preemptively decried the event as an unfair event. Far-right extremist Alexandar Navalny, who was a beneficiary of a leadership scholarship program at Yale’s university has made waves in the last couple of years as a vocal opponent of President Vladimir Putin and United Russia’s rule. His party and all affiliates have been banned from running due to what the Kremlin deems as his extremity.
It is expected that the Communist Party will, as has consistently been the case for decades, receive the largest portion of the vote outside the longstanding United Russia Party despite harsh treatment from the media and strong opposition from the country’s elite. Communists complained of a smear campaign after a baffling endorsement was received from a convicted criminal infamous for keeping two teenage girls captive in a basement.
Some complaints have also been made of doppelganger candidates who submitted themselves with matching names as those running against United Russia candidates.
Most of the rhetoric from the Kremlin has been focused on defending the elections from foreign influence. Whilst the main opposition, the Communist Party are mostly immune from this criticism due to contempt from the world’s wealthiest, there has been a barrage of attacks against individuals like Navalny and many independent media sources which are often funded by grants from western organizations.
Whilst attempts to splinter opposition passed the point of a sizeable challenge has been effective for most of Putin’s reign, signs of paranoia creeped out in the days leading up to the election as police were sent to Apple and Google offices to strongarm them into the removal of an app. Developed by Navalny’s team, it gave information about how to tactical vote to beat local United Russia candidates but was forced off both platform’s app stores before voting began.
Although United Russia is expected to maintain their supermajority of over 2/3rds, their approval rating is near an all-time low at the moment. Unpopular lockdowns are mandatory elections have compounded existing concerns of rocketing food prices and widespread poverty.
Putin, whose position as President isn’t up for election until 2014, remains at a solid 56% and is not actually a member of United Russia, although he consistently retains their support.
