Alexei Navalny urged Russians in prison to vote for anyone other than United Russia, Putin’s party

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Sunday urged Russians in prison to vote for any candidate except those in the ruling United Russia party and to resort to “smart vote” recommendations that the Kremlin tried to block with all means.

“Today is the day when your voice really matters. Sociology shows that most voters make a decision at the last minute. And we all know very well (…) that it is only by following the Smart Voting strategy that your voice has real power.“ to make a difference, Navalny wrote on his Instagram account.

“Choose any party except United Russia“Declared the Leader of the Opposition, who wished” good luck to all of us “.

This sunday is last of three days in which 110 million Russians are called to the polls in parliamentary elections.

The “Smart Vote” has been underway since 2019 and recommends voting for the candidates most likely to defeat the representative of United Russia, whether liberal, communist or nationalist, in each of the constituencies.

The user, who does not need to identify himself, only has to search for his constituency number to obtain the corresponding recommendation on who to vote for.

The Navalny team has been working hard in recent hours to promote ‘smart voting’ ahead of the constant blockages that the list of recommendations has suffered due to the request of the authorities in recent weeks and especially in recent days. Authorities have demanded that big tech companies eliminate the platform because it distributes “content prohibited” by law. They were also accused of “meddling” in the elections. They allege that the network of offices and two organizations of the opposition leader were banned by Russian courts in June when a judge declared them “extremists”.

On the 6th, the Russian telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, has already blocked the platform site and on the first day of the elections American technology Google and Apple have removed the “Navalny” application from their virtual stores which led the voter directly to “smart voting”.

Also on Saturday, the Russian encrypted messaging service Telegram blocked the initiative’s bot and last night the Google company did the same with the list published in Google Docs, all at the request of the Russian authorities. YouTube also removed a video of Navalny’s team posting the list of candidates they recommend voting for.

The opposition leader’s aides made copies of the links in Google Docs in order to continue allowing access to the list of recommendations, according to Telegram.

The voters must elect during these elections the 450 deputies of the Duma (lower house): one half by party lists and the other by majority constituencies.

More than 5,800 candidates from 14 parties, including 10 independent candidates, are standing for these elections.

In addition to the deputies of the Duma, the voters elect 12 heads of federated entities and 39 regional parliaments.

United Russia seeks to renew the constitutional majority in the Duma – more than 300 seats. According to polls, the ruling party has less than 30% intention to vote.

The Communists, the second force in the Duma, should improve their results, although it goes without saying that they will not be able to threaten the hegemony of United Russia.

(With information from EFE)

KEEP READING: