Russians head to the polls amid anger over economy and Covid | Russia
Russians will head to the polls beginning Friday for parliamentary elections that could serve as a platform for popular anger over the economy, a crackdown on dissent and the government response to the coronavirus pandemic. But the ruling party United Russia is likely to find a way to maintain a stranglehold on its control of the State Duma.
While stifling political opposition and independent media, the Kremlin is trying to solve a simple maths problem: how can it prop up the numbers of United Russia, which is polling at near-historic lows, without provoking the kind of protests that broke out over widespread incidents of crude voter fraud in 2011.
Before the vote, which will be held over three days, there has been increasing support for the Communist party, while other opposition behind Alexei Navalny, the jailed Kremlin critic, has sought to consolidate through a “smart voting” effort that mainly identified Communist candidates…
