Sunday was election day in Russia. Up for election were the governors of several regions (including Vladimir region) and the mayor of Moscow. It wasn't exactly the hype-filled spectacle that is an American election, but there still were billboards with candidates' pitches, signs around town, and people passing out flyers. I was out with a group of students on Saturday night, and they started talking politics, which was an informative look into the Russian political world.
The results of the election were never really in question. The ruling party, United Russia, clearly would be the winner in almost every race. That's the thing with Russian politics: There may be fraud with the voting process, but the real reason that one party maintains control is that there really aren't any other viable choices. There's the Communist Party, which attracts mainly older people longing for the "good old days." There's the Liberal Democratic Party, which is really neither liberal nor democratic and is widely believed to be a Kremlin-sponsored opposition party to attract votes from nationalists. And then there are a few liberal parties that don't stand a chance of ever winning anything. So an average Russian only has one party he or she can vote for that stands a realistic chance of ever winning.
Despite this inherent uncompetitiveness, this year's elections provided a little excitement. The most watched and most interesting race was for Moscow's mayor. The establishment candidate, who was appointed by Medvedev when he was president, ran against a charismatic blogger. This blogger, Alexei Navalny, was expected to lose big, but he managed to garner about 30% of the vote. Many observers consider this the first real political campaign in a long time in Russia.
Here in Vladimir, though, it was the same old story. The United Russia candidate for regional governor won with 75% of the vote. Talk about a landslide. In the run up to the election, the city government built bus stop shelters and then covered with United Russia campaign ads. It was shameless campaigning at its best: The old ladies who could finally take shelter from the rain while they waited for a bus knew exactly who they could thank at the ballot box. I guess it worked.
Check out this Time Magazine article about the elections: Russia’s Elections: Even in Defeat, Anti-Putin Camp Finds Victory
The results of the election were never really in question. The ruling party, United Russia, clearly would be the winner in almost every race. That's the thing with Russian politics: There may be fraud with the voting process, but the real reason that one party maintains control is that there really aren't any other viable choices. There's the Communist Party, which attracts mainly older people longing for the "good old days." There's the Liberal Democratic Party, which is really neither liberal nor democratic and is widely believed to be a Kremlin-sponsored opposition party to attract votes from nationalists. And then there are a few liberal parties that don't stand a chance of ever winning anything. So an average Russian only has one party he or she can vote for that stands a realistic chance of ever winning.
Despite this inherent uncompetitiveness, this year's elections provided a little excitement. The most watched and most interesting race was for Moscow's mayor. The establishment candidate, who was appointed by Medvedev when he was president, ran against a charismatic blogger. This blogger, Alexei Navalny, was expected to lose big, but he managed to garner about 30% of the vote. Many observers consider this the first real political campaign in a long time in Russia.
Here in Vladimir, though, it was the same old story. The United Russia candidate for regional governor won with 75% of the vote. Talk about a landslide. In the run up to the election, the city government built bus stop shelters and then covered with United Russia campaign ads. It was shameless campaigning at its best: The old ladies who could finally take shelter from the rain while they waited for a bus knew exactly who they could thank at the ballot box. I guess it worked.
Check out this Time Magazine article about the elections: Russia’s Elections: Even in Defeat, Anti-Putin Camp Finds Victory
No comments:
Post a Comment