In 2015, Alexei Navalny and the Democratic Coalition held open primaries ahead of regional elections. Kaluga was one of the cities where the campaign was built around volunteers, street campaigning cubes, and direct engagement with voters. In the end, the authorities barred the coalition from participating in regional elections. Even so, the campaign became an important experiment in grassroots political organizing and helped demonstrate how an independent opposition movement could build support beyond Moscow.
22 results