Russia goes to the polls on Sunday (September 8th) for local elections across the country, following an election campaign marked by massive demonstrations and the largest crackdowns against Kremlin opponents in a decade.
Municipal and regional elections are being held throughout the country following a historic exchange of 70 prisoners between Russia and Ukraine, unanimously hailed as a first step towards a resolution of the conflict between the two countries since 2014.
According to analysts, the results of the vote will be closely followed in the run-up to the 2021 parliamentary elections and will help shape Russia's political future, as President Vladimir Putin begins his third decade in power.
All eyes will be on the capital, where near-weekly protests have been held this summer to protest the ousting of opposition candidates in the local parliament election.
Mostly unauthorized, they resulted in nearly 2,700 arrests. Never seen since the wave of protests in 2011-2012 that preceded the return of Vladimir Putin to the presidency after a term as Prime Minister.
The authorities briefly jailed virtually all opposition candidates wishing to participate in the Moscow election. Several protesters also received heavy sentences of up to four years in prison. A man was sentenced to five years in prison for a tweet calling for attacking police children.
"Vote smartly"
In Moscow, nearly 7.2 million voters will be expected to elect 45 deputies in the city's parliament, dominated by the ruling party, United Russia, which never opposes the policies of pro-Kremlin mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
Not a single candidate, however, officially appears in the colors of the party, whose popularity has reached a historically low score.
Opponent Alexei Navalny, 43, called on Muscovites to "vote smart" by supporting those best placed to beat power-affiliated candidates. Most of them are communists.
In all, more than 5,000 elections are taking place this Sunday. The Russians will elect 16 regional governors and local parliamentarians from 13 regions, including Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Outside Moscow, the campaign for the election of the governor of St. Petersburg was among the most controversial, the Kremlin supporting the unpopularly outgoing governor, Alexander Beglov.
Saturday, September 7, Moscow wanted to be at its best by organizing many festivities and fireworks to celebrate the 872nd anniversary and try to forget the events of the summer. Polling stations will be open from 08h to 20h local (05h to 17h GMT).
With AFP