Polls open in Russia election
Some complain of coercion as Moscow tries to boost turnout
YEKATERINBURG, Russia — Vladimir Putin’s victory in Russia’s presidential election today isn’t in doubt.
The only real question is whether voters will turn out in big enough numbers to hand him a convincing mandate for his fourth term — and many Russian workers are facing intense pressure to do so.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. Sunday in Russia’s Far East regions of Chukotka and Kamchatka.
Voting will conclude at 8 p.m. in Kaliningrad, the Baltic exclave that is Russia’s westernmost region.
In other words, voting will conclude in Russia around 2 p,m. in the eastern United States.
Mr. Putin is so certain of winning that authorities are investing instead in massive get-out-the-vote efforts to produce a turnout that would embolden the Russian leader both domestically and internationally.
Yevgeny Roizman, the mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city Yekaterinburg, says local officials and state employees have all received orders “from higher up” to make sure the presidential vote turnout is over60 percent.
“They are using everything: schools, kindergartens, hospitals — the battle for the turnout is unprecedented,” said Mr. Roizman, one of the rare opposition politicians to hold a significant elected office.
A doctor at one of the city’s hospitals told The Associated Press how one kind of voting pressure works.
The doctor, who gave her name only as Yekaterina because of fears about repercussions, said she and her co-workers were told to fill out forms detailing not only where they would cast their ballots, but giving the names and details of two “allies” whom they promise to persuade to go vote.
“It’s not something you can argue about,” she said at a cafe Saturday.
“People were indignant at first, said ‘They’re violating our rights’ ... but what can you do?”
The eight presidential candidates were barred from campaigning Saturday, but the message to voters was clear from billboards celebrating Russian greatness — a big theme of Mr. Putin’s leadership — and Kremlin-friendly media coverage.
Mr. Putin urged Russians on Friday to “use their right to choose the future for the greatRussia that we all love.”
While Mr. Putin has seven challengers, none is a real threat.
The last time he faced voters in 2012, he faced a serious opposition movement, but since then he has boosted his popularity thanks to Russian actionsin Ukraine and Syria.
More than 1,500 international observers are joining thousands of Russian observersto watch the vote.
The government wants to ensure that this election is clean after ballot stuffing and fraud marred the last Russian presidential election in 2012.
A Russian election monitoring group said Saturday it has registered an “alarming” rise in recent days in complaints that employers are forcing or pressuring workers to vote.
Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the independent Golos center, told the AP on Saturday the group also has recorded smaller complaints, such as gimmicks like discounted potatoes for people who vote, or schools holding special performances on Election Day to lure parents to an onsite voting station.
He said his own group has come under increasing pressure as the election approached, and warned that independent observers may be targeted by some kind of “attack” on voting day. He didn’t elaborate. As U.S. authorities investigate alleged Russian interference in President Donald Trump’s 2016 election, Moscow has warned of possible meddling in the Russian vote.
Election observers and local media have reported threats and coercion of voters to re-register at their place of work and report later that they have voted.