Russian local elections show gains for opposition

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 14 Sep 2020 by Alex Teddy
On September 14 the results of local elections were posted. 18 of Russia's 85 regions elected governors. Some of these gubernatorial races were won by the opposition. Regional and city legislatures also held elections and there were some by-elections for Parliament.Widespread cheating by the main pro-Putin party United Russia was reported. The Liberal Democrats and the Communists are often allies of United Russia. Opposition candidates said that there were scores of violations of electoral law and that in at least one case observers were illegally removed from the polling station. A safe containing votes had its seals broken. Election monitoring group Golos said that many of its observers had been denied their legal right to view documents and to make complaints. Golos alleged ballot stuffing. The elections took place over 2 days due to coronavirus. Golos worried that as ballot boxes were held overnight this would make bogus voting easy. The head of the electoral commission said that there had been many violations. Navalny previously urged his followers to vote for the candidate best placed to defeat United Russia. Despite Navalny being in hospital in Germany his advice was heeded by many. Some of his followers have been elected to city councils. The opposition won governorships in Irkutsk, Krasnodar, Perm and Chuvashiya. Elections to Parliament are due in 2021. It is looking bleak for United Russia. The chairman of the party is former Prime Minister Medvedev. In the case of no candidate getting over 50% in the first round the top two candidates go to a second round. It is unusual to have a second round.

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