By Vincent de Ruiter
Staff Writer
On June 8, 2013, Moscow held its elections to determine its next mayor. According to the official Moscow electoral commission, the Putin-supported mayor Sergey Sobyanin won reelection with a handsome 51.37% of the popular vote. This was the first time in 10 years Moscow held a popular vote to determine its mayor. While national and international observers have reported no irregularity in the election, opposition candidates are claiming that there is more going on than meets the eye.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the residents of Moscow directly elected the position of mayor. Moscow has a special status as being both a city and an Oblast, a province, meaning that the election is both subject to local and federal law. From 1991 until 2004 Mayoral elections were subject to a popular vote every five years. However, in 2004, the Russian parliament, under then President Dmitry Medvedev changed this to a Kremlin/Duma selected post. In this process political parties would vote in the regional parliament to determine the mayor, with each party candidate having to have been approved by the Moscow Duma in advance. With the importance this election in mind, the mere 33% turnout rate in a city home to one in ten Russians, has caused some to question the validity of the results.
Among those questioning the validity of the results is opposition candidate Alexei Navalny. Mr. Navalny, a former lawyer and democracy activist turned politician, took 27% of the vote and came in second, and on September 8, 2013 demanded a vote recount. Mr. Navalny is alleging voter fraud and has refused to recognize the results of the election.
This is not the first time that Mr. Navalny has had a run-in with the Kremlin. In 2012 Mr. Navelny was arrested for allegedly embezzling millions from a state-run timber company. He was later convicted for embezzling $500,000 and sentenced to five years in prison, a verdict that he disputes and one that was criticized both inside and outside of Russia.
Former USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev said in a public statement that the case was, “proof that we do not have independent courts.” The case was later appealed and Mr. Navelny was allowed to run for the office of mayor on bail while awaiting the upper court’s decision.
The Russian democracy and human rights organization GOLO, supports Mr. Navalny’s call for a recount. While the organization is not claiming fraud, GOLO claims that external factors like absentee voting may have been overlooked and could potentially have swayed the result of the election.
Vincent de Ruiter, class of 2015, is a Politics and Anthropology major from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.
