Russians yesterday voted in regional elections overshadowed by the poisoning of the main opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who had urged supporters to vote tactically to push out the ruling party backing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In 41 of the country’s 85 regions, Russians were voting for regional governors and lawmakers in regional and city legislatures as well as in several by-elections for national lawmakers.
Voters went to the polls wearing compulsory masks and gloves, and undergoing temperature checks to protect against COVID-19 infection, journalists saw in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk.
Photo: Reuters
The vote is seen as a key test of the Kremlin’s control of local politics, as the ruling United Russia party has seen a drop in popularity amid simmering public anger over falling incomes and economic woes.
One voter in Novosibirsk, 57-year-old retired army officer Vladimir Semyonov, told reporters that he had voted for an opposition candidate, “not one of those they always offer us, to change something, so we don’t have stagnation.”
The poisoning of Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, could also influence voters.
After he was evacuated from Siberia to Berlin, German doctors said Navalny had been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.
His associates believe the use of the banned chemical weapon shows only the Russian state could be responsible.
Navalny has sought to promote tactical voting, urging his supporters to back whichever is the strongest candidate to defeat the ruling party.
He had been in Siberia to promote his “smart voting” campaign when he fell ill.
Elections in the country are for the first time being held over three days and some polling stations for early voting were open-air.
Election commission chief Ella Pamfilova at a briefing yesterday angrily denied a report that voters had been casting ballots on the trunk of a car, but said that open-air voting suited rural voters.
“For some people it’s more convenient to come and sit at a street-stand, that’s their right,” she said.
Early voting began on Friday and yesterday was the main polling day.
Several regions recorded large turnouts in two days of early voting, with more than 50 percent of the electorate casting ballots early in the eastern Jewish Autonomous Region and in Tatarstan.
The opposition has warned the measure allows the authorities to organize mass vote-rigging, while Pamfilova decried “unobjective and mean” accusations.
“Currently we do not see that many violations,” she said.
The controversial three-day system was first used this summer for a national vote on constitutional amendments that made it possible for Putin to stay in power until 2036.
In what some observers believe is another Kremlin ploy to dilute the opposition vote, candidates are also standing for four little-known new parties.
One of the highest-profile campaigns is taking place in Novosibirsk, Russia’s third-largest city.
The head of Navalny’s office in the city, Sergei Boiko, has created an opposition alliance to counter United Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from