Why the Kremlin fears even the ‘managed opposition’ in Russia
The risk of a protest vote was too high at the Duma elections so a pre-election crackdown was carried out.
In the weeks leading up to the Duma elections, the Kremlin accelerated what is known in the country as “ballot sterilisation”. It removed the remaining risk factors that could demonstrate any form of public dissatisfaction.
Candidates of the so-called managed opposition parties, such as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), have been arrested or barred from running, thus diminishing the prospect for a protest vote against the governing United Russia. Last month, Yabloko, the only openly antiwar party, was barred from fielding candidates.
In the past, voting for these parties has been encouraged by opposition leaders excluded from running, such as the late Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, as a form of anti-regime vote.
For example, Nikolay Bondarenko, a popular communist with more than two million YouTube subscribers, was banned from participating in the Duma elections for the use of “extremist symbols”; the accusation is based on a social media post featuring Navalny’s photo.