With a muzzled opposition and harshly suppressed criticism, the United Russia party came out on top in regional elections without the slightest suspense on Sunday, September 10. In a context marked by the war in Ukraine, the president of the Electoral Commission, Ella Pamfilova, welcomed the elections taking place “dynamically, with few violations”.
With these elections spread over three days, from Friday to Sunday, Moscow is trying to legitimize its annexations in Ukraine by voting in the occupied territories in the east and south.
Despite strong condemnations from the West, Russia proclaimed in September 2022 the annexation of four Ukrainian territories that it only partially controls – Zaporizhjia, Kherson, Donetsk and Lugansk -, after “referendums” not recognized by the International community. kyiv and its allies have already denounced “illegal” polls.
The fighting is still raging there and the Ukrainian army has launched a counter-offensive. For more than a year and a half, thousands of Russians have been sentenced, sometimes to heavy sentences, for protesting against the offensive in Ukraine.
No real “outside the system” opposition is represented: the opponents are either in prison or in exile. The outcome of these elections organized to appoint governors, regional deputies and municipal elected officials should therefore not lead to any surprises.But this time these come a few months before the presidential election scheduled for early 2024, which could consolidate Vladimir Putin in power until 2030.
Voting in the midst of fighting – In all four annexed Ukrainian regions, occupation authorities have bent over backwards to present some semblance of normalcy, despite ongoing fighting.
In the Donetsk region, voters cast ballots decorated with the Russian double-headed eagle, while in the Kherson region, Governor Vladimir Saldo declared a non-working Friday so that each citizen could “express their position”.
In several Russian regions, where the influx of voters is traditionally the largest on Sunday, the vote is also colored by the conflict.
In Rostov-on-Don, a large city in southwest Russia located not far from Ukraine and hit this week by a drone attack, two voters interviewed by AFP on Sunday near a polling station spontaneously cited this armed conflict as their main concern.
“Above all, we want to live in peace, us and our children,” said 40-year-old labor protection specialist Nina Antonova.
“Everyone is only concerned about one problem: war. We have no other problems,” assures Anatoli, an 84-year-old retiree. In Moscow, the electoral campaign was barely felt, the posters of the candidates, including the outgoing mayor Sergei Sobyanin, a loyal Vladimir Putin in office since 2010, being rare on the streets.
Mr. Sobyanin, on the other hand, has been omnipresent on television in recent days, kicking off new regional train lines and a toll motorway or inaugurating renovated hospitals. Muscovites met by AFP said they appreciated the modern turn taken by the Russian capital under the leadership of Mr. Sobyanin.
“Moscow is blooming before our eyes! exclaims Rukhin Aliyev, a 21-year-old student. “We are only for him!” », says Olga, a 67-year-old retiree. Several hundred kilometers southwest of Moscow, in the border regions of Ukraine, regularly targets of attacks from kyiv, the security conditions for the organization of the vote are precarious.
Election Commission chairwoman Ella Pamfilova has already announced that voting in the town of Chebekino, Belgorod region, has been “postponed due to a high level of alert”.
The only notable political development: in southern Siberia, Communist Party candidate Valentin Konovalov, 35, is trying to be re-elected in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Khakhassia. He is far ahead of his opponents, according to the official TASS agency.