Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s ruling party triumphed easily in regional elections in Siberia and elsewhere in Russia on Sunday, demonstrating that its standing has not suffered, despite several challenging months for the government.
The ruling party, United Russia, said the results were evidence of the public’s faith in Putin and the leadership that he has installed across Russia, but other parties said the elections were marred by fraud, and they contended that senior officials who are United Russia members illegally used law enforcement and other government agencies to suppress the opposition.
The elections were seen as a test of the strength of Putin’s political movement in advance of parliamentary and presidential elections over the next 18 months. Putin, who served two terms as president before becoming prime minister, has not said whether he will run for president again but has indicated that he is seriously considering it. If he is not a candidate, his protege, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, is expected to seek another term.
More than 30 million of Russia’s 140 million people were eligible to take part in Sunday’s regional elections.
Preliminary results announced early yesterday seemed to offer little evidence that the country’s political dynamic has changed recently, with United Russia typically garnering roughly 45 percent to 70 percent — similar to what it won in elections in other regions last year.
Opposition parties made modest gains in the March local elections, but it did not appear that they were able to build on those on Sunday.
Russia has had several difficult months, with the Kremlin and its regional surrogates facing criticism over the response to a heat wave and forest fires during the summer. The extreme weather destroyed crops, pushing up prices for staples like grain and meat.
Two opposition parties — the Communist Party and A Just Russia — had identified Novosibirsk, which is 2,800km southeast of Moscow, as a place to capitalize on this discontent.
Novosibirsk is Russia’s third-largest city, with a relatively progressive population that some analysts suggested might be souring on Putin and the ruling party.
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