Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has urged Russians to protest against President Vladimir Putin on election day next month by going to the polls at the same time.
The Kremlin critic, who is being held in an Arctic prison colony, said via Telegram that people arriving en masse at the polls at noon on March 17 and forming long lines to cast their ballots for Putin would be “a strong demonstration of the country. mood.”
Ivan Zhdanov, a Navalny ally, initially dismissed the idea of a protest as “weak,” but changed his mind after doing the math.
“There are 2,058 polling stations in Moscow, even if half a million people will appear at the same time, it will be 250 like-minded people at each polling station, which is already a lot of people at each polling station,” Zhdanov said on X.
Street protests are rare in Russia because of the Kremlin’s repressive laws and the risk of arrest, especially after the war with Ukraine began in February 2022.
Navalny said the imagery of long lines of voters waiting to cast their ballots against Putin would be a “powerful demonstration of the mood of the country.” Reuters
Navalny, however, said there would be little, if any, impact with his planned election day protests because voting was legal and even encouraged.
“At 12 noon there was already a high turnout, there were many people, and it was impossible to pick out those who voted ‘against’,” said the 47-year-old Putin foe.
Putin is practically guaranteed to win his fifth term in office thanks to his iron grip on Russia’s political system, with most of his political opponents imprisoned or in exile and free media banned in Russia.
Putin is all but guaranteed to win his fifth term in office because of his iron grip on the Russian political system. REUTERS The international campaign ‘Russia Without Putin’ is dedicated to the three-year anniversary of the return of opposition politician Alexei Navalny. ZUMAPRESS.com
Experts say that independent monitoring of voting will be difficult during the election due to the fact that voting will be spread over three days. Online voting will also be available in many regions, which Navalny said would allow the Kremlin to rig the results.
Navalny is currently serving more than 30 years in prison after he was found guilty of charges including extremism, which he and his supporters say are politically motivated.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
