Sunday, September 8 is the last day of voting for some regions to renew their governors, others are designating their local elected officials at the same time. As with the presidential election last March, the general result is not in doubt and should see President Vladimir Putin’s men sweep the board everywhere. Especially since this time, even the rare rebellious provinces are being brought into line. Example in Khabarovsk, one of the two easternmost regions of the country.
From our special correspondent in Khabarovsk,
What is now primarily a ritual has a special feel in the Khabarovsk region, one of the largest in Russia. The region stretches from north to south over 2,000 kilometres of land, sea, rivers and isolated islands.
” We have some villages that are hard to reach, but we organize early voting sessions and go thereexplains Denis Alexandrovich Kuzmenko, chairman of the regional election commission. We also need to reach weather stations, reindeer herders, fishermen, miners who are in isolated places. We have a helicopter that can do up to 1 000 kilometers between two villages, and ships to welcome voters on election day. »
Following in the footsteps of Sakhalin Island and Transbaikalia, for the first time, the region also had its soldier-voters vote in the regions annexed by Russia in 2022. Khabarovsk is the seat of the Eastern Military District.
” To organize this kind of voting, we have determined the places where our voters are concentrated by military units, and specified the number of polling stations that we will need. Voting is conducted there according to the specifics defined for military units. We do not create electoral commissions there, we set up commissions composed of soldiers. It should be noted that some of the fighters in these special commissions were already members of our civilian commissions here. This is a great help, because they know how to conduct elections, they know all the procedures. I personally traveled there for their creation. I took a military plane, taking with me all the electoral documents. And the guys there, from the command of our headquarters, helped with cars, security, transportation and accommodation. »
Denis Alexandrovich Kuzmenko does not dare to make a precise prediction of the turnout. During the presidential election in March, it was one of the lowest in the entire country. And according to political scientist Rada Gaal [son nom a été modifié à sa demande, NDLR]it is not likely to improve this time: ” In 2019, in the Khabarovsk region, the president’s party had an absolute majority at all local levels.explains this keen observer of local life. After the elections, they ended up with less than 5%. It was originally a protest vote. Then Governor Furgal, who was elected by the people, in less than a year, gained the trust of the voters. He proved to be very good, active, empathetic with the people. The fact that he ended up being arrested as early as 2020 and put in prison had a huge emotional impact on the whole region, because he was the people’s choice. Protests began, which I covered. It was not about overthrowing the government, nor about separatism. It was simply about the right to be able to decide who rules us based on existing laws. Here in the Far East, we want to choose the person we want to see in power. We just want to be able to make a choice. But after three or four months, the repressions began, the law enforcement agencies moved in, and the arrests and detentions began. So today, people have stopped believing that they can influence elections. They are frustrated, desperate, they live in internal exile.”
The range of repression and intimidation is on a par with these 2020 protests, which are completely unprecedented in their scale and duration. Governor Furgal was sentenced in February 2023 to 22 years in prison for having ordered two murders and another assault between 2004 and 2005. His supporters have always denounced the case and the verdict as political.
” Undesirable »
Just before the presidential election last March, a ” Furgal movement ” has been classified ” undesirable “There is no legal definition of what this ” movement ” – which does not exist on paper. But it allows to repress any person presented as belonging to it and to classify them individually as ” undesirable ” The police did not hold back.
Even today, ordinary citizens are regularly imprisoned, and in this region with a reputation for rebellion, it has become even more difficult than elsewhere in Russia to meet even slightly critical figures. Nothing has been neglected to get the message of power across, down to the smallest symbol “They also wanted to humiliate the voters by taking away the status of the capital of the Far East from Khabarovsk and giving it to Vladivostok, just to punish us like naughty little children for the choice we made,” judge political scientist Rada Gaal.
In Khabarovsk today, the climate is described as oppressive. The atmosphere in the city is one of a total and massive campaign for “United Russia”the president’s partydescribes a member of an electoral commission in the region, who also asked that his anonymity be guaranteed. In every yard, on almost every billboard, on every bus stop, all the space is occupied by advertising for “United Russia”. Advertising for others exists, but it is not really visible. “United Russia” has a huge budget this year and there is no equality for the candidates. Why “United Russia” Does she spend so much money? They feel like they are not in complete control of the situation. »
According to this activist, the region concentrates “a lot of problems”, the most obvious of which is ” the special military operation that some people don’t support. But since saying your disapproval out loud can result in punishment, people are afraid to say it. “.
This activist is certain: in any case, there will be no temptation this Sunday to show a better score than in the presidential election for the candidate of the government. There is no question of the governor appearing more popular than the head of state.
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