Pro-Putin party heads for electoral victory in Russia after Navalny crackdown

MOSCOW, Sept. 19 (Reuters) – Russians vote on Sunday in the home stretch of a three-day parliamentary election that the ruling party is set to win after a sweeping crackdown that crushed the movement of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and barred opponents to vote.

The expected victory of the ruling United Russia party will be used by the Kremlin as proof of support for President Vladimir Putin despite the unease caused by years of declining living standards.

The party that backs the 68-year-old Russian leader is facing a decline in audiences, state polls show, but remains more popular than its closest rivals at the ballot box, the Communist Party and the nationalist LDPR party, who support often the Kremlin.

United Russia holds nearly three-quarters of the 450 seats in the State Duma. That dominance last year helped the Kremlin pass constitutional reforms that allow Putin to run for two more terms for president after 2024, potentially remaining in power until 2036.

“If United Russia manages (to win), our country can expect another five years of poverty, five years of repression, five years lost,” sent a message to supporters on Navalny’s blog this week.

Navalny’s allies were barred from running after his movement was banned in June as an extremist. Other opposition figures say they have been targeted by dirty tricks or have not been allowed to compete. Read more

Communist strawberry mogul says he was unfairly banned, while liberal opposition politician in St. Petersburg claims two “spoiler” candidates with the same name are running against him to confuse his voters. Read more

TACTICAL VOTING

The Kremlin denies political repression and says individuals are being prosecuted for breaking the law. She and United Russia deny any role in the candidate registration process.

Navalny’s camp is promoting a tactical voting ploy against United Russia that authorities want to block online. Since the start of the vote on Friday, Google, Apple and Telegram Messenger have limited some access to the campaign on their platforms. Activists accuse them of giving in to the pressure. Read more

Elections run until 6:00 p.m. GMT on Sunday, when polling stations close in the European enclave of Kaliningrad. This is the last national ballot before the 2024 presidential election. Putin, who turns 69 next month, has not said whether he will run.

In Moscow, Navalny’s tactical election campaign recommended his supporters vote for politicians like Mikhail Lobanov of the Communist Party. He said he praised Navalny’s campaign and criticized United Russia.

“People see the glaring inequalities, they feel the effects of economic policy and the wave of repression and react with dissatisfaction as a result,” Lobanov said.

At a Lobanov district polling station, three people told Reuters they voted for United Russia and three said they voted communist, including two at the behest of Navalny’s team.

A retiree from Moscow who only gave his name as Anatoly said he voted United Russia because he was proud of Russia’s tough foreign policy and Putin’s efforts to restore what he sees as Russia’s legitimate great power status.

“Countries like the United States and Great Britain respect us more or less today as they respected the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s … The Anglo-Saxons only understand the language of force,” he said. he declared.

Other voters expressed their anger at United Russia at a polling station in the capital of more than 12.5 million people, where United Russia has fared less well in recent years than in some areas.

“I am still against United Russia. They have done nothing right,” said Roman Malakhov, who voted Communist.

Voting takes place in parallel with the elections of regional governors and local legislative assemblies. It is spread over three days as a COVID-19 precautionary measure.

Additional reporting by Polina Nikolskaya Editing by Gareth Jones

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