Politics Regional elections in Russia - critics criticize violations of the law

In the wake of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, millions of Russians have voted for new governors, regional parliaments and mayors. Independent observers from the "Golos" organization, outlawed by the Kremlin as a "foreign agent", also registered a large number of electoral violations on the last of the three days. Employers had urged their employees to vote and followed them to the polls. As always in Russia, there had also been illegal multiple voting and other violations of the law.

The vote was seen as a mood test for the Kremlin, which is under particular pressure due to the Ukrainian offensive on Russian territory in the Kursk region and the shelling of border areas. At times, however, voter turnout was below 50 percent. Full results are expected on Monday.

"Golos" had already stated in advance that the power apparatus was doing everything it could to help representatives of the Kremlin party United Russia into political office. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, who himself voted online for the new Moscow City Council, said in a Kremlin video that elections are always "of great importance for political stability in the country, and today this is particularly important".

Election management criticizes troublemakers from other parties

A total of around 4,000 different votes have been held since Friday in the world's largest country by area. More than 57 million people were called to vote. No real opposition was allowed in the elections.

While the organization "Golos", which advocates the observance of voters' rights, listed hundreds of violations on the days of voting, the election director appointed by Putin, Ella Pamfilova, announced in Moscow that there had been no relevant incidents. At the same time, she criticized the fact that representatives of other parties had attracted attention more often than ever before for their "unworthy" behaviour.

Some of the party members had also disrupted the work of the local election commissions, Pamfilova claimed. In the Bryansk region, for example, the communists came under fire for "destructive" behavior. Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov rejected the election administration's accusations as false. Like others, the party had previously complained that some of its candidates had been denied registration.

Particularly many manipulation attempts in St. Petersburg

Governor elections were scheduled in 21 regions, including St. Petersburg, Putin's home city, where the politician Alexander Beglov, who is controversial for mismanagement, is expecting a new term in office thanks to the support of the Kremlin. A particularly large number of manipulation attempts were reported there.

The liberal opposition party Yabloko, which unlike other forces critical of the Kremlin is not banned, criticized pressure on candidates in advance. The party complained that "hundreds of our candidates at various levels were not allowed to vote under absurd and contrived pretexts with the help of compliant election administrations and courts". Yabloko had called on people to vote for peace and freedom and for a ceasefire in Ukraine. According to the party, it had a total of 59 candidates in the running in the country.

Criticism of elections on annexed Crimean peninsula

In a statement, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry criticized the elections held on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. The ballot was a farce and a violation of international law. It had nothing to do with the will of the voters and was therefore null and void, the ministry stated. The politicians standing for election were in no way legitimized by the Ukrainian side. The Foreign Ministry also announced that those involved in organizing the elections would be prosecuted.

SDA