Unusual campaign to take votes away from politician in Russia | Compete with two contestants who have adopted your name and changed their faces to look alike

A very special situation has arisen in Russia in the run-up to the next municipal elections. Boris Vishnevsky, candidate of the liberal Yabloko party, found himself in St. Petersburg with a surprise. Two of his competitors adopted his name and came up with almost the same face.

The two fake Vishnevsky appear alongside the real one on a poster, bald and bearded. A colleague of the original candidate pointed out that the only way to tell them apart is if the real Vishnevsky is wearing a tie in the photo.

“All this is done to deceive the voters, so that they confuse the false with the true, and instead of voting for the real Vishnevsky, vote for one of the false,” warned the liberal politician. According to the politician, it is possible that, in addition, the impostors presented digitally enhanced photos.

One of the opponents is Viktor Bykov, who in official photos appeared with hair and much younger than in the just published image. Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta has confirmed his identity.

The real name of the other is Alexei Shmelev, sales manager for a company in St. Petersburg. Neither Shmelev nor Bykov have so far campaigned publicly.

“I don’t think they agreed to exhibit themselves for free,” Vishnevsky speculated. Meanwhile, the president of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, condemned what happened and called it “shame and scandal”. However, he acknowledged that due to the way the law is drafted, the “doubles” could continue to participate in the elections. The only thing the official suggested was that the two candidates in question submit new photographs.

The tactic of double appointments is not new in Russian politics. A week ago, three similar situations were reported in Moscow in connection with the parliamentary elections.

In most cases, this is a strategy to hinder the advance of Communist candidates, who have high voting intentions.

However, the case of St. Petersburg is striking because of the legal name changes (although the middle name is different in the three men), because there are two instead of one and because they have decided to get as close as possible to the original. candidate.

“Every time there is an election, we say it’s the dirtiest there has ever been. I’m sure we’ll say the same in the next ones too,” said the real Vishnevsky.