I wonder whether even a single major election in Russia will ever be held on schedule—without moving the date, without redrawing district boundaries, without rewriting the rules, and so on?
So much for stability, confidence, an 86% approval rating, and monuments—from Mannerheim to Ivan the Terrible—all supposedly built on “spiritual values”; but the moment an election comes around, it’s immediately, “let’s hold it early so the opposition doesn’t have time to prepare.”
Why, you’ve already shut down our “undesirable” parties, stripped people you don’t like of their voting rights, and stuffed another 16 million votes in your own favor—and you still want to reschedule it?
I have no doubt they’ll move it. Most likely they’ll merge districts and turn multi-member constituencies into single-member ones. After that, they’ll play the classic game: the Communists and the democrats split the vote, clearing the way for the United Russia candidate.
And, of course, they simply won’t allow the strongest candidates to run—the Moscow City Duma 2014 scenario.
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