On Monday, Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that the liberal opposition party Yabloko could not stand in September’s parliamentary elections. The Kremlin seems to be scared of the risk of a strong protest vote, a reminder that while these elections are obviously carefully managed shams, they are not completely pointless. The same cannot necessarily be said of the parliamentarians themselves.
The elections to the State Duma, the lower chamber of the legislature, will be held over three days from 18 to 20 September. In total, 450 deputies will be elected, 11 from the occupied territories in Ukraine.
The results will be rigged to ensure that the bulk of the seats will be won by the governing United Russia bloc, campaigning under the slogan “United Russia is the President’s Team”. There are 19 other parties registered, from the Communists and the Greens to the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, and even the Party of Pensioners. Almost all are essentially fake opposition parties, there to give the system the appearance of plurality, yet voting in line with the government on any matters of note.
Shorts
Although still pretty marginal, Yabloko was the only party that really does challenge the Kremlin and the war and had a chance of passing the 5 per cent threshold needed to be represented in the Duma. Originally, the Kremlin seemed willing to let it run for the sake of appearances, before becoming alarmed by a surge of online support. Hence the sudden turnaround, with the Supreme Court ruling that it had received illegal donations from abroad.
