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Russians go to polls in local elections after crackdown on dissent
Source: The Guardian and agencies
Russians go to polls in local elections after crackdown on dissent
Attention is on Moscow vote after arrests of would-be opposition candidates
Maria Georgieva in Moscow and agencies
Sun 8 Sep 2019 17.54 BSTFirst published on Sun 8 Sep 2019 10.19 BST
Russians have gone to the polls in local elections after weeks of opposition protests that led to the biggest police crackdown on dissent in nearly a decade.
Although municipal and regional polls were held across the vast country, most attention has been focused on the vote in Moscow, where independent would-be candidates and their supporters have been arrested and jailed and large protests were held over the summer.
About 7.2 million people were eligible to elect 45 lawmakers in the Moscow parliament, which is dominated by the ruling United Russia party. Not a single candidate is formally running on the United Russia ticket as the party’s popularity has hit rock bottom.
Alexei Navalny, the most prominent of Russia’s opposition leaders, was hoping to take advantage of the discontent by calling on supporters to back his “smart voting” strategy and cast ballots for the candidate with the best chance of defeating a pro-Kremlin candidate. “Today we are fighting to destroy United Russia’s monopoly,” Navalny told reporters after voting in the capital.
-snip-
Attention is on Moscow vote after arrests of would-be opposition candidates
Maria Georgieva in Moscow and agencies
Sun 8 Sep 2019 17.54 BSTFirst published on Sun 8 Sep 2019 10.19 BST
Russians have gone to the polls in local elections after weeks of opposition protests that led to the biggest police crackdown on dissent in nearly a decade.
Although municipal and regional polls were held across the vast country, most attention has been focused on the vote in Moscow, where independent would-be candidates and their supporters have been arrested and jailed and large protests were held over the summer.
About 7.2 million people were eligible to elect 45 lawmakers in the Moscow parliament, which is dominated by the ruling United Russia party. Not a single candidate is formally running on the United Russia ticket as the party’s popularity has hit rock bottom.
Alexei Navalny, the most prominent of Russia’s opposition leaders, was hoping to take advantage of the discontent by calling on supporters to back his “smart voting” strategy and cast ballots for the candidate with the best chance of defeating a pro-Kremlin candidate. “Today we are fighting to destroy United Russia’s monopoly,” Navalny told reporters after voting in the capital.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/08/russia-local-elections-crackdown-on-dissent-moscow
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Also: Russia probes 'stun gun attack' on election chief Pamfilova (BBC)
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