Putin's party consolidates its power as the opposition denounces irregularities in the elections

In a political landscape marked by the increasingly sharp authoritarianism of the Kremlin, the ruling party, United Russia, has once again guaranteed itself a parliamentary supermajority. His comfortable victory in the Russian legislative elections this weekend, marked by the harassment of any dissent and by the opposition's denunciations of serious irregularities, reinforces the power of President Vladimir Putin, who, although he is not a formal member, gives strong support to the match. After extensive efforts by the authorities to guarantee a landslide victory, with a vote that lasted three days, animated with prizes and raffles and preceded by an 'extra pay' to retirees and the military, United Russia obtained almost 50% of the votes.

Meanwhile, 'loyal' opposition parties, such as the Communists - which have registered a significant rise in the elections, going from 13% to 19% - and more critical parties, such as the team of the jailed opponent Alexei Navalni, accused United Russia of fraud and manipulation; especially in the pioneering digital voting enabled in regions like Moscow, and in mobile polls, designed to bring the vote home to those who could not go to schools or vote online.

The independent electoral monitoring organization Golos, labeled a "foreign agent" by the authorities, registered some 5,000 complaints of possible irregularities throughout the country;

twice as much as in the legislative elections of five years ago.

"This time, even in regions considered 'clean', cases have been detected," says Stanislav Andreychuk, its co-president, who highlights the "tremendous opacity" of digital voting.

More information

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Initial results had revealed late Sunday that different opposition candidates significantly led the count in several traditionally opposition-minded Moscow districts. Until, many hours later, the online vote arrived, which gave victory to its rivals in United Russia. The communists, who have called various protests these days, despite the ban by the authorities and who have already taken to the streets this Monday, have stressed that they do not recognize the almost two and a half million digital votes. Gennadi Zyuganov, the leader of the formation, often accused by critics of the government of being too loyal to Putin, has called for a formal investigation. The Electoral Commission has assured, however, that violations were detected in different parts of the country,but they have not been "significant".

Members of the Election Commission count ballots at the Moscow station in Kazan on Sunday night.

EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA / Reuters

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The European Union and the United States, which are experiencing the worst moment in their relations with Russia since the Cold War, have questioned the legitimacy of the elections.

The US State Department has remarked this Monday in a statement that the elections have not been "free or fair."

Meanwhile, Peter Stano, spokesman for the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has spoken of "serious violations during the vote."

"These elections have taken place in an atmosphere of intimidation from critical and independent voices," he remarked.

Despite the repressive campaign of the authorities, who have striven to erase the most critical opposition from the political map - from the allies of the imprisoned Navalni to popular independent and liberal candidates - and who have even maneuvered against those formations considered sympathetic to the system, Like the communists, the Kremlin has ensured that the elections were conducted with "competitiveness, transparency and fairness." "We evaluate the electoral process very, very positively," said Dmitri Peskov, the powerful spokesman for the Russian president, on Monday.

Among the seats distributed with the vote by parties and, above all, thanks to those distributed through the nominal vote to candidates representing the districts, highlights the analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, the government party will continue to have a supermajority of seats in the State Duma (Lower House of Parliament). The conservative formation is on track to win 315 of the 450 deputies in the Duma, according to the party leadership; somewhat less than the current 334. "The task of United Russia was to confirm its leadership and it fulfilled it," the Kremlin spokesman insisted.

However, Putin's party has suffered wear and tear due to social discontent over the economic situation, with skyrocketing inflation, and the pandemic. Also, as the political scientist Nikita Dontsov points out, he accuses the effects of other unpopular reforms, such as that of pensions, which increased the retirement age and took thousands of people to the streets in numerous protests in 2018. The expert, on trend official party, believes that the increase in support for the Communist Party has also been exacerbated by the crisis derived from the health management of covid-19. "Many dissatisfied people, who have suffered the economic recession, have decided to demonstrate that dissatisfaction to power by supporting their closest rival of the government party, the PC", Nikita Dontsov abounds.

Despite the fact that 70% of the laws are written by the government, keeping the supermajority was extremely important for the Kremlin. The result guarantees not only stability at a key moment, in which political groups debate the possibility of Putin running for president again in 2024, as allowed by the amended Constitution; in addition, it enables you to reform it again.

In Russia there is a political system called controlled democracy, in which only parties that are not too critical on substantial issues have a place in the Russian Parliament. In this legislature there will be a premiere, that of Gente Nueva, a political formation created last year, clearly with the approval of the Kremlin, which has tried to attract young professionals dissatisfied with an agenda that seeks to channel the opposition sentiment of the society, but supporting the continuity of Putin's government. New People, which analysts define as

the B-side

and more modern of United Russia, has even embraced some of the traditional claims of Alexei Navalni, who never managed to register a match.

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"Power has stolen our elections"

The rainiest day in Moscow in 73 years, according to meteorologists, has thundered the storm so long abated by the leader of the Russian Communist Party.

Guennadi Zyuganov, tightrope walker of the first opposition party loyal to Vladimir Putin, found himself on Monday post-election with an uncomfortable scenario: his first Moscow secretary, Valeri Rashkin, crying out loudly in the center of the capital that "the criminal oligarchy" , the so-called "power of Putin", "has stolen" the legislative elections this weekend.

"We will take to the streets until the dirt is removed," Rashkin proclaimed to a few hundred people who have responded to the call of the Communists, including Marina Litvinovich, a candidate for the liberal Yabloko party in one of Moscow's districts, who called for the annulment of the elections and the release of the prominent jailed opponent Alexéi Navalni.

The Communists, Rashkin has assured, are ready to take to court the results of the elections to the state Duma, which give United Russia an absolute majority. They particularly cry out against electronic voting, which has guaranteed victory at the last minute for the government party in opposition-minded districts led by the Communists. Despite the fact that the demonstration was prohibited by the authorities, who alleged restrictions due to the pandemic, the police have looked the other way, unlike the last demonstrations in support of the opposition Alexéi Navalni, which resulted in thousands of detainees.

The taboo on protests began to break down among communists after Navalni's arrest in late January. At the same time that Zyuganov called the head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation a "traitor", some important figures from his own party and various regional sections began to take a position against the massive arrests promoted by the Putin government. Among them Rashkin and Nikolai Bondarenko, a deputy from Saratov who gained fame after going to the airport to receive Navalni and being arrested.

The outrage over the evidence of electoral fraud has opened, in a way, an unthinkable window not so long ago.

"The [system of] 'smart voting' of Navalni recommended voting for the Communist Party, it is possible that after elections we will be more united with the liberals against Putin," opined Vitali Málchev, one of the few protesters who dared to challenge evil time and the prohibition to move.

Shabnam Mustafayefa, a member of the Revolutionary Worker Party who was an observer at an electoral college in the capital, was outraged.

“I spoke with other comrades, the Communist Party received a lot of votes, United Russia has not had so much support.

When I saw the results, I didn't believe it ”, he claimed.

“At the head of Russia there is no democratic party.

Putin's party is not a popular party, it is a party against the people ”, lamented between resignation and indignation Evgueni Petróvich, a retiree who voted for the communists.

The same sentiment is shared by more and more visible faces of the party.

“Every election we go to is rigged.

The government oligarchy is only after money.

The money ran out, the propaganda ended, the electronic elections ended where two computer scientists and three spetnaz [special forces] decide, "said Denis Parfionov, candidate for Moscow.

“Russia without Putin!” Protesters shouted in unison.

/ JAVIER G. CUESTA