How the kremlin manufactures faith in «elections» through anti-American propaganda
russia is resorting to cold war-era propaganda tricks to increase public interest in the September «elections» to the state duma.
Propaganda posters have been put up in the moscow metro telling passengers that illegal migrants can allegedly vote in the United States and that most US states have no election monitoring.
The kremlin’s problem is that parliamentary elections in russia traditionally attract less public interest than presidential elections. Nor are russians likely to view the state duma as an independent centre of political decision-making.
So instead of explaining to citizens why these «elections» actually matter, propaganda resorts to cheap speculation: «look at how they do it». The goal is obvious — to create the impression that russia’s electoral system is supposedly more honest, transparent and legitimate than the American one, thereby increasing citizens’ interest in voting.
The kremlin is trying to create the appearance of a normal electoral process and convince russians of its democratic nature. However, no amount of propaganda can change the fact that russia is also holding pseudo-elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Their results will receive no international recognition.
