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Fury over pension changes hurts Putin allies in Russian regional...
After Sunday's elections, Putin's former party (United Russia, now headed by Medvedev) lost seats to the Communists (C21st Marxist-Lenin types. One of the Sergey's allegedly votes for them) and to the LDPR Liberal Democratic Party of Russia - Wikipedia who are apparently neither liberal or democratic ie they seek "a revival of Russia as a great power" and often vote for Putin's govt leading to speculation they get funding from the Kremlin. Anyway, four 'run offs' and two seats lost by 'United Russia' to the above:
E2A: Russian riot Police waiting to board their vehicles:
After Sunday's elections, Putin's former party (United Russia, now headed by Medvedev) lost seats to the Communists (C21st Marxist-Lenin types. One of the Sergey's allegedly votes for them) and to the LDPR Liberal Democratic Party of Russia - Wikipedia who are apparently neither liberal or democratic ie they seek "a revival of Russia as a great power" and often vote for Putin's govt leading to speculation they get funding from the Kremlin. Anyway, four 'run offs' and two seats lost by 'United Russia' to the above:
Head of the Central Electoral Commission says it's a protest against the pension reforms:Russia’s ruling United Russia Party suffered a rare setback in regional elections despite winning most of the seats, a reversal its leaders and election chiefs blamed on unpopular plans to raise the pension age.
The results in weekend voting for heads of about one third of Russia’s regions were the worst for United Russia, which backs President Vladimir Putin, since elections for regional leaders were re-introduced in 2012.
Putin says he's unfazed by the votes and run offs:Ella Pamfilova, the head of the Central Election Commission, said it was obvious the planned pension changes had prompted voters to register their discontent at the ballot box, something she said was a sign of genuine political competition.
“It’s a good lesson for everyone,” she told a news conference. “It’s very useful for the party of power to get a bit of a jolt.”
30% turnout in Moscow apparently:Speaking in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, Putin told government officials he was unfazed by the fact that re-runs would be needed in four regions.
“It’s an absolutely normal phenomenon,” he said.
Putin's in Vladivostok meeting Asian leaders. Some of the electorate have been brave enough to voice their feelings:In Moscow, Putin’s former chief-of-staff Sergei Sobyanin was re-elected mayor with about 70 percent of the votes. But despite a huge get-out-the-vote campaign, turnout was just 30 percent as many Muscovites stayed away. That was less than the turnout at the previous mayoral election in 2013.
Vladivostok resident Alexei, 41, who works in the local ship building industry, said he had voted for the communist candidate as a protest vote and planned to do the same in the run-off.
“We really don’t like United Russia here and Putin and his comrades at the moment,” he said.
The region the includes Vladivistok is one of those where a second vote will be required. The man Putin appointed acting governor there last year failed to pass the 50-percent threshold on Sunday after a communist won almost a quarter of the votes.
“You don’t need to hunt for complex explanations as to why this happened,” said Ivan, a voter in Vladivostok who declined to give his surname. “Everything can be explained by the fall in the authorities’ popularity because of pension reform.”
E2A: Russian riot Police waiting to board their vehicles:
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