SINCE Russia’s last parliamentary election in 2011, when widespread fraud triggered mass protests, millions of Russians have fallen into penury. Wages have plunged, and labour protests are on the rise. Vladimir Putin’s forces are fighting openly in Syria and secretly in Ukraine. Polls show that 33% of Russians believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, though 82% approve of Mr Putin. With so much at stake, why are so many ignoring the parliamentary election due on September 18th? Golos, an election monitoring group, calls the campaign the “most sluggish and inactive” of the past decade.
This sterility is the …read more
Source: The Economist
