Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has claimed a “historic” victory for his tactical voting campaign after Kremlin-backed candidates lost 13 seats on the Moscow city council following major protests and revelations of corruption.
Candidates supported by the ruling United Russia party and mayor Sergei Sobyanin kept a narrow majority of 25 seats but lost several embarrassing district races even though liberal opposition candidates were barred from Sunday’s vote.
With opposition support, the communists and Left-leaning A Just Russia, both of which rarely challenge the Kremlin in parliament, won 13 and three seats, respectively, while the old-guard liberal party Yabloko returned to the city council with four seats.
The result will put the Kremlin on edge ahead of the 2021 parliamentary elections, where the ruling party must retain a majority to ensure either reforms to keep Vladimir Putin in office or a smooth transition of power as his presidential term limit comes to an end.
On Monday, Mr Navalny told viewers of his popular YouTube channel that the fractious opposition would never fully unite but had realised the “power of collective action” to challenge Mr Putin’s rule.
“I hope that you enjoyed electing (city council) deputies. It’s a new feeling, isn’t it, when it’s not Putin and Sobyanin but rather us deciding who will be deputy,” he said. “It’s a good feeling. Let’s get used to it.”
He claimed candidates backed by his “smart voting” campaign would have won a majority if not for electoral fraud in four districts where the ruling party won narrow victories. The electoral commission has dismissed most of the hundreds of violations reported by independent observers around Russia.
Almost two dozen liberal opposition candidates were refused registration on technicalities this summer, prompting tens of thousands to repeatedly take to the streets. More than 2,700 were arrested.
All of United Russia’s candidates ran as nominal independents given the party’s poor ratings. Mr Navalny called on supporters to cast their ballots for a “smart voting” list of candidates, mostly communists, he believed had the best chance of defeating them.
Several well-known Kremlin critics argued the tactic would help legitimise the unfair elections, but one survey suggested the majority of protesters agreed with Mr Navalny.
“We are here for competition, we would like to choose someone,” teacher Darya Kozyreva, a supporter of barred candidate Ilya Yashin, said after casting her vote for a communist endorsed by the smart voting campaign.
Meanwhile, United Russia also attempted to claim victory in Moscow and around the country. The national party head said its candidates had “knocked out everyone,” winning the governorship in 16 regions and majorities in 12 of 13 regional parliaments.
But an analysis of preliminary results showed that United Russia had gotten on average 16 per cent fewer votes than last election and was set to lose parliamentary seats in almost all regions. This was despite allegations of ballot-stuffing and attacks on observers in St Petersburg and elsewhere.
The Khabarovsk region on the Chinese border became the first province where another faction would control the executive and legislative branches after the nationalist Liberal Democrat party won a parliamentary majority thanks largely to a popular governor it managed to elect last year.
The biggest black eye for United Russia was the defeat of Moscow party boss Andrei Metelsky, who lost the seat he had held on the city council since 2001 to a communist backed by Mr Navalny’s “smart voting” campaign.
On Monday, Mr Metelsky said this result had been “seriously affected” by Mr Navalny’s investigation showing that he owned a huge real estate portfolio including a hotel chain in Austria, findings he has denied.
Days before the vote, jewellery maker Bendes announced it would create 45 diamond-encrusted “Moscow city council 2019” ruby rings to represent the 45 deputies.
Analyst Yekaterina Schulmann said the smart voting campaign had turned protest anger into a city council victory that could hold the mayor more accountable.
“(Mr Navalny) channeled this sea of popular dissatisfaction into one flow and made it into a firehose of anger that can knock almost anyone down,” she said.
The authorities would be forced to change their tactics or the electoral rules by the 2021 vote or risk Mr Navalny becoming a kingmaker, Ms Schulmann added.