Erstellt am: 12. 4. 2012 - 16:05 Uhr
Russia: All Eyes on Astrakhan
Charles Maynes
by Charles Maynes, journalist in Moscow
Nowhere are the battlelines drawn more fiercely than in the southern city of Astrakhan. Following what opposition forces say was a rigged mayoral race in favour of Putin's United Russia in Astrakhan last March, mayoral candidate Oleg Shein and twenty supporters launched a hunger strike calling for a recount. They've now been almost a month without food, and say they'll continue until there's a transparent investigation into vote rigging and the results overturned. Medical personnel monitoring the hunger strikers warn that their lives are at risk.
Shein's protest sounds familiar to anyone who followed Russia's flawed Duma elections last December. Official results sanctioned by the Electoral Commission provided an overwhelming victory to United Russia. Yet independently verified vote counts painted a starkly different outcome. Shein says his attempts to address the differences in Astrakhan have so far gone nowhere, because election officials are refusing to release videotapes of the vote counts.
This week, key opposition figures, journalists, pro-Kremlin "Nashi" supporters, and scores of riot police descended from Moscow onto Astrakhan, bringing the city sharply into the national conversation.
It's created both chaos.
Shein says Marshall law has all but been declared in Astrakhan -- and some semblence of progress. The polling station tapes have now been released; Vladimir Putin was forced to address the issue, noting that it was a matter for the courts; and, on Thurday, Russia's colourful Central Elections Chief, Vladimir Churov, promised to review the evidence personally.
As a goodwill gesture, Shein agreed to his first sip of juice.
Twitter Dgudkov https://twitter.com/#!/gudkovd
The standoff in Astrakhan comes as Russia's opposition faces the reality of a long political winter under a new Putin presidency, due to run until 2018. For those who participated in the mass protests in the last few months, it's been a time of soul searching. In kitchens, on social media, and on the street, many have been asking whether key tactical mistakes were made? Could it all have somehow gone differently?
Through it, however, a consensus seems to have emerged: it’s time to end the handwringing and take the fight to the regions. Mayoral elections, in particular, retain a modicum of competitiveness, and opposition leaders believe they can defeat United Russia one town at a time.
They can already point to some minor successes:
For example, during a rare second round run-off mayoral election in the city of Yaroslavl last month, 'free election' supporters turned out to monitor the vote by the hundreds. The result? United Russia lost by a landslide.
Meanwhile, in Omsk, Ilya Valarmov, a popular Moscow blogger and news photographer, has indicated he intends to compete in the town's mayoral race this summer. Promising "the most lively campaign Russia has ever seen", Varlamov has already enlisted key opposition leaders, such as the blogger Alexey Navalny, to lend a hand.
Yet victory in Astrakhan is far from certain. On Thursday, Shein formally appealed his case to the courts for review, but says he and his supporters will continue without food. Opposition leaders are calling for a mass rally in support of Shein in Astrakhan this weekend.
Shein
Members of the ruling United Russia party, meanwhile, dismiss these actions as "political tourism". They note that it opposition-minded Moscovites, and not locals in Astrakhan, who have taken up Shein's cause.
Arteom Troitsky, a political commentator and noted music critic who was active in the protest movement, spelled out Astrakhan's place as firewall for Russian demcratic ideals. "The bastards have surrounded us from all sides." he said, speaking on Echo of Moscow radio. "The only option left is to go and die a slow death, in order to get someone’s attention."
But Troitsky also laid out the opposition's new strategy by invoking Che Guavara's famous call to counter American imperialism in Latin America, albeit with a Russian twist.
Looking to dislodge Putin's hold over Russia's electoral map, Troitsky said "Let us create many Vietnamchiks".