Putin Put Officials Through An "Exam" During The Elections

The Kremlin is watching to see where the vertical of power is beginning to break down.

The Kremlin needs the Russian parliamentary elections not so much to determine a winner as to test how effectively the entire system of government is functioning. The outcome of the vote is a foregone conclusion, but the actual figures and the course of the campaign allow Putin to gauge the loyalty of officials, governors, and regional elites, writes CEPA.

From September 18 to 20, Russians elected a new State Duma. At the same time, thousands of regional and municipal elections were held across the country. However, political competition was severely restricted. In August, the Supreme Court removed the Yabloko party from the federal list, citing violations in financing and campaign materials.

“Russian elections are more than just rigged vote counts. They are a nationwide test of the Putin system,” the authors write.

The main “examinees” are governors, officials, heads of state-owned companies, and party functionaries. They are expected to ensure the necessary voter turnout and deliver the desired result. The Kremlin gets the opportunity to see where the administrative machinery is running smoothly and where local elites are resisting Moscow’s decisions.

Voter mobilization is also of particular importance. For years, government agencies and state-owned companies have exploited employees’ dependence on their employers to force them to vote. However, this system is facing new challenges. Job cuts and wage reductions are weakening employers’ influence, while the abolition of some local self-government bodies is depriving the authorities of their usual intermediaries.

The Kremlin’s attempt to bring war veterans into politics has proven to be a particular challenge. “It’s impossible to simply fabricate the final figures—the elections reveal resistance within the system itself,” the authors argue.

Ultimately, it’s not just United Russia’s announced percentage that matters to the Kremlin. Answers to other questions provide far more insight: where officials had to increase pressure on voters, which governors succeeded in their tasks, and where local elites began to sabotage decisions imposed from above.

This is precisely why elections under Putin serve as a kind of test of the entire power vertical.

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