Russian elections
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Why is the 2024 Russian parliamentary election considered significant despite predictable results?
The Pat Kenny Show on News Talk. This weekend, Russians have been going to the polls in the first parliamentary election since Vladimir Putin launched his full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. There are four hundred and fifty f seats in the State Duma up for grabs, but there's little expectation of a change in the balance of power with Putin's United Russia Party expected to retain its dominance. The more interesting questions may be around turnout, the size of United Russia's majority. And whether the results tell us anything at all about how Russians are feeling about the war and the state of their economy. So if the result is largely predictable, why does this election matter at all to Vladimir Putin?
Well, joining me now to talk about all of this is Yaroslava Kurahina, senior journalist for the BBC based in the Latvian capital Riga. Yaro, good morning and welcome. Yeah, good morning everyone. Uh first of all, let's talk about the news breaking overnight of the largest drone attack ever on Moscow. What can you tell us?
Yeah, actually two people are reported dead. Uh and uh the Moscow's uh key refinery in Kapotny uh is on fire.
What impact did the massive drone attack on Moscow have on public sentiment and the election narrative?
Uh it's the third such attack uh on Kapotny this year. Uh and uh obviously Russians are likely Moscovites in particular are likely to fill the pinch uh because there have been fuel shortages uh all across the country. Uh For most of summer and uh including Uh and apparently they will worsen uh after that attack.
And of course we know that Donald Trump has uh asked uh the Ukrainians, ask President Zelensky to stop uh hitting the uh Russian oil assets because he thinks that they impact on the price of oil paid by Americans uh and indeed the price on the world market. But obviously uh Zelensky has not paid any attention uh to Trump in that regard.
Yeah, apparently it's meant uh to show kind of the Moscovites uh that Ukraine does uh s has certain control over the skies over Moscow and uh one of the biggest airports in the capit in the Mosc in the Russian capital uh also temporarily suspended flights. So it does affect kind of the daily life um of some. Moscovite. But it's worth noting though that uh Quite a lot of votes were cast online electronically, unprecedentedly high number, which uh s kind of uh raises suspicions because never before, two million people have never voted uh electronically before.
Uh so it is uh suspected that uh the the votes are preordained.
Which parties are on the ballot and why is genuine opposition virtually absent?
Tell me about the parties who are running and if any of them uh are uh I suppose proposing any opposition to uh to Putin. No.
Now uh there are ten parties on the ballot. Uh the only party that can be considered opposition and uh whose agenda was mainly to stop the war in Ukraine uh was stricken off the ballot uh just several weeks before the election Yabloka. Uh there are some candidates from that party running in kind of sing single constituencies, but they are not expected uh to get um really um uh far in the in that election and many of them were barred for whatever reasons. Uh there are at le there are ten parties, but none of them openly dare to criticize um Russia's war on Ukraine or President Putin personally. Their agenda might differ slightly uh from the economic standpoint, for instance, but
Now the party that that i is Putin's party, I suppose, United Russia, uh expected to dominate, but might people attempt to show their displeasure with what's going on by voting for the other parties even if they are not explicitly critical of the war?
Yeah. Uh there is a smart voting initiative uh originally uh presented by uh uh the k the late uh Putin critic Alexei Navalny who died um uh in a penal colony two years ago and he did initially launch this.
How are voters using smart‑voting and peace‑campaign initiatives to signal dissent?
Uh basically what this uh thing does is they offer you some alternative candidates who might have a high chances of winning in a a single constituency constituency, for instance, because it's unlikely they can challenge uh kind of party lists. Uh it's a complicated system, but uh uh there is a chance of some candidates getting more votes.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why is the 2024 Russian parliamentary election considered significant despite predictable results?
0:01–1:12
2
What impact did the massive drone attack on Moscow have on public sentiment and the election narrative?
1:12–2:38
3
Which parties are on the ballot and why is genuine opposition virtually absent?
2:38–4:06
4
How are voters using smart‑voting and peace‑campaign initiatives to signal dissent?
4:06–5:24
5
Why does Vladimir Putin view these elections as a necessary veneer of democracy?
5:24–6:30
6
What does the unusually high rate of electronic voting reveal about turnout and potential manipulation?
6:30–7:33
7
Do Russians trust the vote‑counting process, and how might public officials perceive its fairness?
7:33–8:33