MOSCOW: Russians are set to vote in local elections tomorrow following a hugely controversial campaign in Moscow that degenerated into the biggest police crackdown on protesters in nearly a decade.
Municipal and regional polls will be held across the vast country, but most attention will be focused on the Moscow parliament vote following the arrests and jailings of independent would-be candidates and their supporters. Analysts say the results of the vote will be keenly watched ahead of parliamentary elections in 2021 and will help shape Russia’s political future as President Vladimir Putin enters his third decade in power.
Over the past weeks tens of thousands have taken part in Moscow protests demanding a fair vote after allies of opposition leader Alexei Navalny were barred from the election. Rap stars and prominent bloggers backed the demonstrations. Authorities responded with a police crackdown — the biggest since a wave of protests in 201112 against Putin’s return to the Kremlin after a stint as prime minister.
Tatyana Stanovaya, head of the R.Politik analysis firm, said the campaign exposed a growing rift between authorities bent on preserving the status quo and Russians wanting political change. “The Moscow parliament elections have become a litmus test of the authorities’ ability to accept this new reality,” Stanovaya told. – AFP
