Woman votes for legislative elections in Moscow – AFP
The Russians vote this Sunday (19), in the last of three days of legislative elections, in which the majority of opponents to the Kremlin could not participate and President Vladimir Putin’s party plans to retain its majority in Parliament.
The vote, in which ruling United Russia party is expected to win, comes after an intense wave of repression against the opposition, including the arrest of Putin’s best-known critic Alexei Navalny, 45, whose organization has been labeled “ extremist”.
Before the weekend’s vote, Navalny’s main allies were detained or fled the country, and anyone associated with his group was not allowed to run in the parliamentary election.
About 108 million Russians can vote until this Sunday at 15:00 GMT to renew the 450 seats of deputies in the Duma, the lower house of Parliament, currently dominated by United Russia. At 8:30 am, participation exceeded 40%, according to the Electoral Commission.
In addition to wiping out the opposition, these elections were also fraught with allegations of censorship and fraud.
This Sunday, independent election observer Golos received more than 3,850 reports of possible electoral irregularities. Authorities classified Golos as a “foreign agent”.
On the other hand, at the beginning of the vote on Friday, companies Apple and Google eliminated Navalny’s “smart vote” app, which informed its supporters which candidates to vote to defeat aspirants aligned with the Kremlin.
Sources close to the decision by Google and Apple told AFP they did so under pressure from Russian authorities, who threatened to arrest local employees of the tech giants.
The Telegram messaging app also eliminated Navalny’s app on Friday.
People close to Navalny accused Google and Apple of “giving in to the Kremlin’s blackmail.”
This Sunday morning, Google also blocked access to other content with these electoral instructions: two videos published on Youtube – owned by Google – and two lists published in Google Docs.
Navalny’s team responded by posting a similar video on Youtube and copies of lists on Google Docs. On Twitter, he gave instructions to download a virtual private network (VPN) that would allow him to avoid the blocks.
This Sunday, the opponent again asked his compatriots to vote following his instructions.
“Today your vote really matters”, he published on social networks. “Vote and convince others to vote. Don’t be lazy, please.”
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source https://pledgetimes.com/last-day-of-legislative-in-russia-with-repression-of-opposition-strategies-istoe-money/
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