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After the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s allies were banned from running for election in June, the United Russia Party will win the polls.
The Russians voted in the final stage of the three-day parliamentary elections. After completely suppressing the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s campaign and banning opponents from voting, the ruling party is expected to win.
Despite years of low living standards, the expected victory of the United Russia Party in Sunday’s poll will be used by the Kremlin as evidence of support for President Vladimir Putin.
According to the national polling agency, the party supporting the 68-year-old Russian leader faces a decline in ratings, but is still more popular than its closest rivals on the ballot-the Communist Party and the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party-which tends to Support the Kremlin.
The United Russia Party occupies nearly three-quarters of the 450 seats in the State Duma. Last year’s dominance helped the Kremlin pass constitutional reforms, allowing Putin to serve as president for two more terms after 2024, possibly until 2036.
“If the Russian administration is unified [to win], Our country can look forward to another five years of poverty, five years of repression, five years of lost years,” said a message to supporters on Navalny’s blog this week.
Navalny’s allies were forbidden to escape after his actions were prevented June ban As “extremists.” Other opponents claimed that they were the targets of criminal activities or were not allowed to participate in the competition.
A Communist Party strawberry mogul said he was unfairly banned, while a liberal opposition politician in St. Petersburg said that two “destroyer” candidates of the same name were competing with him to confuse his voters.
Moscow denies claims
The Kremlin denies politically-driven repression and says individuals are being prosecuted for breaking the law. Both it and the United Russia Party denied any role in the candidate registration process.
Navalny’s camp is promoting a tactical voting strategy against unifying Russia, and the authorities hope to block this strategy online. Since voting began on Friday, Google, Apple and Telegram Messenger have restricted some access to campaign activities on their platforms. Activists accused them of succumbing to pressure.
The election will continue until 18:00 GMT on Sunday, when polling stations in the European enclave of Kaliningrad will be closed. This is the last national vote before the 2024 presidential election. Putin, who will turn 69 next month, did not say whether he will run for the election.
In Moscow, Navalny’s tactical voting campaign suggested that supporters vote for politicians such as the Communist Party’s Mikhail Lobanov. He said he welcomed Navalny’s campaign and criticized the unification of Russia.
Lobanov said: “People see obvious inequality, they feel the impact of economic policies and the expansion of repression, and respond with dissatisfaction accordingly.”
A member of the local election committee checks the ballot box at the polling station [Reuters]“The Language of Power”
At a polling station in Lobanov, three people said they voted for the unification of Russia, three people said they voted for the Communist Party, and two of them voted at the request of Navalny’s team.
A Moscow pensioner named only Anatoly said that he voted for the unification of Russia because he was proud of Russia’s tough foreign policy and Putin’s efforts to restore what he considered Russia’s legitimate power status.
“Countries like the United States and the United Kingdom respect us more or less now, just as they respected the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 70s… Anglo-Saxons only understand the language of force,” he said.
Other voters expressed anger at the polling station of the capital with more than 12.5 million people against the United Russia Party, which has performed worse in recent years than in some regions.
“I have always opposed the unification of Russia. They have done nothing good,” said Roman Malakhov, who voted for the Communist Party.
The vote will be held concurrently with the election of the district governor and the local legislative assembly. As a preventive measure for COVID-19, it was extended for three days.
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