2024-02-29 01:28:25
In two weeks, in the middle of the heavy fighting that it has unleashed in Ukraine, Russia will have a presidential election. There is no doubt that the current President Vladimir Putin will win them again. However, supporters of the opposition can make the vote uncomfortable for the Kremlin regime. The team of the deceased Alexei Navalny Rusy called for a discreet protest right in the polling stations.
In an interview with Aktuálně.cz, the leading British expert on Russia, Mark Galeotti, said that Navalny’s recent death under still unclear circumstances in a penal colony may change something for many Russians. “I’m not talking about mass protests, but the question is whether it will really make people think more and say: I will vote for another candidate simply because I want to vote for someone other than Putin.”
Of course, according to him, this does not mean that Putin would not win. But the people of the Kremlin can disrupt the peaceful course of elections. In addition, the current regime strives for every election to make the official results as close as possible to the real ones.
Even if Russians were afraid to vote for another candidate, it is possible that there would be smaller and less visible protests. In early February, before his death, Alexei Navalny and his team urged their supporters to show their disapproval of the current regime by voting at the same time on the same day.
The Russian presidential election will take place from Friday, March 15 to Sunday, March 17, and online voting is possible in many Russian regions, the AP explains. A second round of voting would take place three weeks later if no candidate received more than half of the vote. But it would be a big surprise if it was necessary, CNN adds.
Everyone will know what it means
Associates of the late opposition leader Navalny are urging Russians to come to the polling stations at noon on March 17, so that long lines form at the ballot boxes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that he had not yet heard of any calls.
According to Navalny’s team, this would be “a real all-Russian protest action that will take place not only in every city, but in every district of every city”.
Mark Galeotti agrees. “Just the fact that a mass of people suddenly appear in the polling stations will be a sign. Who can lock you up just for voting at a certain time? But still, we will all know what it means,” he says.
Navalny’s associates initially pushed for people to vote for anyone other than Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, other opposition groups came up with the idea of showing their opposition to the Kremlin regime at the polls at one point. Navalny’s ally Ivan Zhdanov first admitted that at first this idea seemed weak to them. “But then we sat down and counted it. There are 2058 polling stations in Moscow: even if half a million people come at the same time, it will be 250 like-minded people in each polling station, which is already a lot of people,” he said on the social network X , formerly known as Twitter.
Traditional demonstrations have become a rarity in Russia due to repressive laws adopted by the Kremlin, especially after the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. Isolated protests very quickly end in mass arrests. After Navalny’s death, the police arrested hundreds of people who came, even with just a flower, to honor his memory.
Putin has ruled Russia since 2000 and has gradually consolidated his power. He is already the longest-serving ruler of Russia since the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. In 2021, he signed a law allowing him to be president for two more terms until 2036.
Video: Putin fears that Navalny’s funeral could spark protests
Khodorkovsky: “Putin is afraid that Navalny’s funeral could provoke protests”. | Video: Radio Free Europe