Opposition forces work together to bruise ruling United Russia in polls

Russia's ruling United Russia party suffered significant losses at a Moscow city parliament election on Sunday in a setback for the Kremlin.

The party retained a majority in the city legislature but lost a large number of seats to rivals as Muscovites cast protest votes.

Russia's most prominent opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, hailed the "fantastic" success of the tactical voting he had advocated ahead of the poll. "Muscovites have united in a protest vote against United Russia," he said. "The smart voting strategy worked."

Local and gubernatorial elections were held across Russia on Sunday, but all eyes were on the Moscow city parliament poll that has been overshadowed by an official decision to bar a clutch of opposition-minded candidates from the ballot.

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Law enforcers cracked down violently as thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand free and fair elections. Law courts jailed disqualified candidates for calling the demonstrations and prosecuted activists for criminal “mass rioting” even though the meetings were peaceful.

Majority plummets

United Russia’s approval ratings have fallen to record lows since the party supported a highly unpopular government decision last year to raise the pension age. Aware that its brand was potentially toxic, the party fielded candidates as nominal independents at Sunday’s election for the Moscow city parliament. Despite this precaution, the Kremlin’s party saw its majority in the legislature plummet from 40 seats to 26 seats.

Russia’s Communist Party gained most as voters snubbed United Russia, winning 13 seats – up from five previously. A Just Russia took four seats. Both parties are part of Russia’s so called “systemic opposition” that is represented in the state Duma or parliament and generally co-operates with the Kremlin. Yabloko, a veteran Russian liberal party that is not represented in the Duma, won five seats in the Moscow city parliament .

Turnout was less than 22 per cent, reflecting widespread distrust of Russia’s tightly controlled political system.

Wealth interrogated

Mr Navalny had encouraged voters to pick candidates best able to defeat United Russia incumbents regardless of their political convictions. In other disruptive action ahead of the poll, Mr Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation published a series of investigative reports questioning the wealth of United Russia candidates. One of the targets of these reports was Andrei Metelsky, the leader of United Russia in Moscow who, in a spectacular defeat, lost his seat in the election to a Communist Party candidate.

Ilya Yashin, a disqualified candidate who has served five consecutive 10-day jail sentences for organising the recent protests, said the election had changed the face of Russian politics by bringing together rival opposition parties to challenge United Russia. "For the first time in ages the opposition has been able to form a wide coalition, forgetting resentments to consolidate and produce results," he tweeted on Monday.

Gennady Zyuganov, head of the Communist Party, said the election results reflected flagging public confidence in United Russia. “This tendency will not stop because it is the party of power that is responsible for the [government’s] cannibal social economic course,” he said.