Elections in Russia, opposition says won't be free

Polls suggest that only 26% of Russians are willing to vote for the ruling United Russia Party in the September 19th parliamentary elections, its lowest result in polls since 2008.

However, Putin's few opponents have doubts about the United Russia party's victory, thanks to vote manipulation, the silence of Putin's critics, the detention of independent candidates, the intimidation of voters, and the distribution of money to voters.

“Ryshfeft for voters (freezing the vote), all kinds of manipulations, mobilizing administrative resources and persecuting regime critics are the election tactics of Putin and his party at 2021”, says Fuodor Krastenkov, an opposition political analyst.

Kraskenikov recently left Russia, becoming part of an exhibition of opposition figures who say they are in the target of a wave of oppression of opponents that led to the closure of dozens of independent media and civil society organisations after they were appointed as the <x0->agenous foreign” or extremist organisations. This campaign by authorities in the Kremlin intensified before the September parliamentary elections.

Alexei Navajo, Putin's best-known critic, has been in prison since January on old charges of tax evasion, which he and some Western governments see as politically motivated. His nationwide political organisation, accused by the Kremlin as extremist, has been disbanded. Putin's other critics have been barred from running in parliamentary elections, including former lawmaker Dmitry Goodkov, who fled Russia in June for fear he would face criminal charges if he did not abandon the country. /voa