Page 12 - RusRPTSept21

party leader Gennady Zyuganov has accused Putin of turning the country into a “fascist” state.
Ironically the KPRF has been the main beneficiary of jailed anti-corruption activist and opposition politician Alexei Navalny “smart voting” tactics designed to unseat United Russia. The idea is to use the opposition’s organisational power to rally voters behind any candidate with a chance of beating the United Russia candidate – and that is usually a communist candidate. The swelling support for the party has caused problems within the KPRF as some members see the possibility of increasing the party’s political power and these elements are pushing for internal reforms. Until now the KPRF has been content to be part of the “systemic opposition” that is in the Duma, formally in opposition to the ruling United Russia, but in effect tow the government’s line on all major issues.
The other main systemic opposition party is far-right popularist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), led by firebrand political veteran Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who is famous for his fiery rhetoric and bizarre antics. Despite his reputation of being a clown, Zhirinovsky remains by far the most popular opposition figure in Russia. According to the Scientific and Methodological Center for Rural Youth Problems poll, the LDPR is polling at 13.6%. Although the party has significant backing in the Far East, it faces challenges in the south of the country. For example, in Chechnya and North Ossetia, both in the northern Caucasus, they are supported by so few people that there is no data at all for these areas, which is probably due to its openly racist agenda.
The next most popular party, Fair Russia, which is the closest the Duma comes to a liberal opposition group, polls below double figures nationwide.
It has been clear for a long time to the Kremlin that United Russia is in trouble in these elections, but the Kremlin has been unable to engineer a solution and instead has turned to open repression. The first half of this year has been marred by the Kremlin campaign to arrest, outlaw or simply shutter as many of the opposition voices as it can. The gloves have come off as the Kremlin attempts to crowbar its party into power.
With the poll less than a month away the Kremlin has rolled out the big guns in a media blitz to win voters' support. Putin himself has been stumping at the party’s congress as well as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu, who is one of the most popular figures in the country after Putin himself. Lavrov and Shoigu will lead the national party list during the election. The nominal head of United Russia has not featured either in the
12 RUSSIA Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com