The Russians have until Wednesday to vote on the new constitutional reform proposed by Vladimir Putin. Regarding the revaluation of pensions, it should also allow the Russian president to run until 2036. Faced with him, apart from timid calls for boycott or rejection, the opposition is struggling to fight this project.
Since the start of the vote last week, Russian opponents have denounced the vote on this reform as a farce, pointing out, for example, that copies of the amended basic law are already on sale in bookstores. From liberals to communists, there have been many critics of the project, but no common front has emerged to protest the reform.
Tricks and lack of confidence
The liberal Iabloko party therefore called on the Russians to boycott a "falsified, illegal and unconstitutional vote". The Communist Party has campaigned in favor of "no", despite views often close to the Kremlin. Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin's main critic, called for focusing opposition efforts on the regional elections in September and the legislative elections in 2021, instead of the referendum. He also showed little interest, denouncing the reform as a "constitutional coup". According to him, debating the referendum is useless because the amendments have already been approved by Parliament and the vote will be fraudulent.
Experts say deep divisions within the Kremlin's opposition and ruses have prevented any serious fight against Vladimir Putin's ambitious plans. "A lack of resources, new faces, enthusiasm, inspiration and faith: these are the main sources of the problem", stresses with AFP Vitali Chkliarov, researcher and political advisor who worked with the Russian opposition. "The opposition in Russia does not believe in itself," he summed up.
Vladimir Putin announced the constitutional reform to everyone's surprise in January before adding at the last minute amendments allowing him to potentially stand for two additional terms after the end of the current one in 2024. The changes also strengthen certain prerogatives of the President and enshrine conservative societal principles in the Constitution such as "faith in God" and marriage as a heterosexual institution.
Popular measures difficult to fight
According to various polls, a majority of Russians support social amendments such as indexation of pensions, but have little enthusiasm for the political aspect. This reform, the first since 1993, has already been approved by Parliament, but Vladimir Putin insisted that the Russians must also vote through a "popular vote" intended to legitimize it.
Originally scheduled for April 22, the poll was postponed until June because of the coronavirus epidemic and, according to experts, this postponement and its organization at full speed contributed to the weakness of the response of the opposition.
For Tatiana Stanovaïa, founder of the R.Politik analysis center, the Kremlin also disarmed the opposition by offering the Russians to vote on the reform as a whole and not on each amendment in particular. Opposing popular measures contained in the reform, such as better pension plans or minimum wages, therefore becomes mission impossible for the opposition. "In this situation, the opposition does not know what to do," sums up the expert.
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