“Moscow — “The candidates have not shown up at our studio, so I’ll say goodbye for now,” Elizaveta Dorokhina, a Russia-1 state TV anchor, told viewers, with three empty podiums visible either side of her in the studio. The broadcast switched to a commercial break. All six registered candidates in Ryazan, a city 122 miles”, — write on: www.cnn.com
Moscow —
“The candidates have not shown up at our studio, so I’ll say goodbye for now,” Elizaveta Dorokhina, a Russia-1 state TV anchor, told viewers, with three empty podiums visible either side of her in the studio. The broadcast switched to a commercial break.
All six registered candidates in Ryazan, a city 122 miles southeast of the Russian capital, had failed to turn up for a televised debate ahead of upcoming elections.
Russia is holding parliamentary elections, the first since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in a political landscape in which critical opposition is effectively nonexistent, with opponents barred or having fled the country. Voters will elect 450 members of the State Duma – the lower house of the Russian parliament.
The empty studio offers a window into the democratic ritual Russia is so keen to put on display: the candidates, the debates, the appearance of choice. Projecting stability and an image of due processes has become a cornerstone of President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
The voting will take place over a three-day period starting Friday. The United Russia party, which backs Putin and has dominated domestic Russian politics for over 20 years, is widely expected to win a majority of seats. Among the areas voting are Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine – in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.