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Moscow (AFP) – Russians are going to the polls for Sunday's regional elections, in which candidates loyal to the Kremlin should dominate, while a jailed opposition leader calls for protests against unpopular pension reforms.
The election of the mayor of Moscow is the most important vote, but opposition candidates were kept out of the ballot in favor of outgoing President Sergei Sobyanin.
As in the presidential election in March, during which Vladimir Putin returned to the Kremlin for a fourth term, the focus was on the lack of suspense.
The capital's authorities organized festivals and food fairs in the polling stations to increase participation and legitimize the next term of Putin's ally, Sobyanin, as mayor.
But opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is serving a one-month prison sentence for a previous illegal protest, is trying to spoil the party with national protests against pension reforms.
"For 18 years, Putin and his government have stolen the budget and squandered it in meaningless projects.Now, the money is exhausted and we have to steal pensioners to make ends meet," wrote the Navalny team.
Dozens of supporters and protesters were detained by police before the protests, Russian media reported.
The majority of demonstrations scheduled Sunday was not sanctioned by the authorities, which means that the people who showed up could be arrested.
– Renovations of one billion dollars –
Russians from different regions will vote for their governors, local legislators and other officials.
In Moscow, Sobyanin should be returned to City Hall with about 70% of the vote, a turnout of 30 to 40%.
The mayor's election, five years ago, was the last time Russian politics was about to undergo major upheaval, Navalny nearly forcing Sobyanin to a second round.
This time, he will face only discrete candidates from the Communist Party, the LDPR nationalist and two other groups, the most vocal opponents being excluded from the new rules.
"Moscow is a city where at least 30% of the population are our potential supporters, they share our ideas," said former opposition MP Dmitry Gudkov, himself stuck.
But "there is a complete absence of a real adversary … there is no one on the democratic side," he told AFP.
Supporters say Sobyanin has transformed the city with $ 1 billion renovation projects that include a central park and new pedestrian zones as well as a series of new subway stations.
But critics say it is a new urban middle class that in the past has protested against Putin's regime, while the Kremlin continues to crack down on political freedoms.
Polling stations open at 8 am with demonstrations called at 2 pm local time.
