City Duma elections on October 10th, 2009 will deliver no surprises. Edinaya Rossiya, Russia’s elite cartel, will easily win and most likely keep  its dominant position in the city parliament (28 out of 35 seats). With Russia’s usual machinations, manipulations and falsifications ER’s success is all but guaranteed. This is one reason, why turnout at the elctions will be low. Another reason is the fact, that the local Duma is all but powerless. Power lies with the executive embodied by Yuri Luzhkov, who has been ruling Russia’s capital for more than 18 years already. While Luzhkov’s popularity with the Muscovites has declined in recent months due to the economic and financial crisis, outright opposition is small. Rumours have it, that Luzhkov might not be proposed again as the mayor of Moscow by President Medvedev. I do not consider this very likely, as the Kremlin does not have an alternative at hand who could guarantee stability in Moscow as Luzhkov does.

Even most of the opposition parties do not openly challenge Luzhkov’s rule. Quite to the contrary, the liberal Yabloko, the Communists, Zhirnovski’s Liberal Democrats, and the Kremlin’s liberal creation Pravoe Delo more or less openly endorse him. Only Solidarnost led by Boris Nemtsov and Gari Kasparov oppose him outright. This organisation, however, has failed not field any candidates due to the city’s election commission’s rulings.

The City Duma elections therefore will be a fake contest for a powerless Duma in an atmosphere of the elctorate’s disinterest. Only the turnout rate will be of interest; however, if need be, the election commission can help with the numbers.

Foto: RFE/RL

(http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_President_Plans_Visit_To_Moscows_Grand_Mosque/1759735.html)