How Russia Boasts About Its Sham Primaries
russian propaganda outlets are actively spreading news about the so-called “electronic preliminary voting” being conducted by putin’s party united russia to select candidates for the regional elections in September.
▫️Special emphasis is placed on the 25% quota in the party lists for “fighters and veterans of the ‘special military operation’,” who are described as the “new elite of russia,” as well as on the claim of “unprecedented data protection” that allegedly prevents vote manipulation.
By promoting these staged “primaries” and spreading myths about a “new elite,” kremlin is trying to convince russians that the political system in russia is highly democratic. However, in reality, neither the results of the “primaries” nor the composition of representative bodies in russia have any real influence on decision-making, as true power belongs solely to putin and his vertical of authority.
russia’s political system is rapidly transforming into an almost single-party model reminiscent of soviet era, where any form of opposition—even nominal—is entirely absent. “primaries” and other democratic attributes in russia serve only a decorative, performative function.
