Putin’s party set to retain majority in parliament after election

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party was due to retain a majority in parliament on Sunday on the last day of the three-day election in which most of the Kremlin’s critics were excluded from the poll.

The vote comes following an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition this year, with Russian authorities imprisoning Putin’s best-known domestic enemy, Alexei Navalny, and banning his organizations as “extremists.”

As this weekend’s vote approaches, all of its main allies have been arrested or fled the country, and anyone associated with its groups has been barred from standing in parliamentary and local polls scheduled to close on Sunday in 8:00 p.m.

“These are not essentially elections. People actually have no choice,” 43-year-old businessman Vladimir Zakharov told AFP in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city.

The elections were also marred by allegations of censorship and widespread ballot stuffing.

At the start of the vote on Friday, Apple and Google caused an uproar among the Russian opposition after removing Navalny’s “Smart Voting” app, which showed supporters which candidate they should support to topple Kremlin-aligned politicians.

Sources close to the decision from Google and Apple told AFP that the decision was taken under pressure from Russian authorities, including threats to arrest local staff from the tech giants.

Popular messenger Telegram also removed Navalny’s “Smart Voting” bot on Friday evening, and on Saturday his team said Google was pushing them to remove Google Docs with nominees recommended after a request from Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor.

His team called the documents the last “remaining” tools to support their election tactics and asked voters to take a screenshot in case they are removed.

– “Putin celebrates victory” –

Meanwhile, Russian social media has been inundated with reports of ballot box stuffing and soldiers patrolling polling stations.

Critics also pointed out that online voting, new limits on independent election observers and three-day polls presented opportunities for mass election fraud.

As of Saturday afternoon, the independent election observer for Golos – whom the authorities described as a “foreign agent” ahead of the elections – recorded more than 2,750 reports of voting violations.

Election chief Ella Pamfilova said on Saturday that her committee had received 137 reports of “coercion” voting.

Before the vote in the Lower House of the State Duma, Putin’s United Russia Party voted at historically low levels.

Recent surveys by public pollster VTsIOM have shown that less than 30% of Russians plan to vote for the party, down by at least 10 percentage points in the weeks leading up to the last parliamentary elections in 2016.

While Putin, 68, remains popular, United Russia has seen his support drop as living standards decline after years of economic stagnation.

But the ruling party is expected to largely retain its two-thirds majority in the lower house, allowing it to push through legislative changes without resistance.

In addition to United Russia, 13 other parties are standing for election. However, they are widely seen as a symbolic opposition auctioning off the Kremlin.

On Saturday, Navalny’s ally Leonid Volkov said “Putin is celebrating huge victory” after tech giants “gave in to Kremlin blackmail” but still called on their supporters to try and turn the jubilant mood of the Russian leader in “mourning”.

“In our battle between David and Goliath, we certainly still have the opportunity to throw stones,” he wrote on Telegram.

bur-emg / pb

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