Center Of Attention? Putin Stands Out On Official Ballot

By Tony Wesolowsky

Opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has dismissed Russia's presidential election in March as nothing more than the "reappointment" of Vladimir Putin.

Navalny has urged Russians to boycott the vote, arguing that it is rigged, and is now noting even the most inconspicuous signs of possible electioneering.

For example, the layout of the ballot papers.

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On The Less-Is-More Ballot Commotion

TASS (via Rambler.ru) quotes Central Election Commission Chairwoman Pamfilova as saying of the conspicuous brevity that some say gives Putin's bio an edge on the ballot:

"Everything is clear by law, he just has a short post, and everyone [else] has a long one. So it happened, there is nothing more to write about."

Each of the candidates' bios appears to list merely date of birth, place of residence, occupation, and body (or bodies) that nominated the said candidate. In Putin's case, running as an independent, the ballot includes no party information -- sizable portions of the other candidates' sections.

TASS elsewhere quotes commission Deputy Chairman Nikolai Bulaev as saying that "all information about each candidate strictly corresponds to the federal law [and] no preferences for any reason are given to any of the candidates."

The Pros And Cons Of Local Referendums

In a report for Znak, Yekaterina Vinokurova looks at how the Kremlin is using local referendums on grassroots issues to boost turnout in the regions but is looking to bar them in Moscow, where the "wrong electorate" could turn out.

Sobchak: I'm A 'Compromise Figure'

Sobchak in response to the question of why Putin "allowed her to register for elections" says she could become a mediator in the transfer of power in six years' time. From VOA's Fatima Tlis via Current Time TV.

More On Grassroots Issues, Mobilization, And Kremlin Math

The authorities are doing their best to boost turnout by raising public interest in the elections and mobilising the electorate.

But political experts canvassed by Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper note that this strategy also poses risks for authorities in some regions, such as Altai Krai, which have comparatively high protest sentiment. They believe a higher turnout figure in places like Altai could result in fewer proportional votes for Putin: mobilizing the electorate could also coax those who do not support the Kremlin to the polling stations.

The great Danila Galperovich interviews Sobchak for VOA. Video and text (in Russian).

State Pollsters Say...

The latest state polls suggest Putin's support has risen to 71.4 percent, up slightly from the week before. Grudinin remains in second, but his rating has fallen from 7.2 to 6.9 percent. Then in third comes nationalist warhorse Zhirinovsky, who has also fallen slightly from 5.9 to 5.7 percent.

Grudinin Dividing The Left?

The KPRF Communist Party may have finally produced a new face by nominating Pavel Grudinin for the elections, but has his nomination sparked tensions in the left?

The Institute of Globalization and Social Movements predicts Grudinin will take second place after Putin at the polls but says his candidacy has sent the political left into disarray. He was meant to be a consolidating figure, it notes, but groups such as Left Bloc and Workers Russia have turned against him.

What's more, the nucleus of the KPRF electorate (who usually voted for Gennady Zyuganov in the past) is said to feel alienated by Grudinin's nomination.

Boris Titov's Strange Campaign

The presidential candidacy of Boris Titov, the Kremlin's commissioner for entrepreneurs' rights, is widely viewed as yet another fake contender designed to give the race an aura of competitiveness. The Spectator has a piece profiling Titov and looking at his candidacy.

And in her column for Republic.ru, political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya takes a skeptical look at a proposal Titov recently floated to encourage exiled businessmen to return to Russia in exchange for amnesty.

Candidate List Reflects 'Popular Demand But Not...Entirely Adequate'

Political scientist Golosov assesses the combination of candidates on offer:

"The list of presidential candidates was formed on the basis of public-opinion polls. That is, so that there would be a communist, democrats, and so on. Of course, there had to be Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who is difficult to define ideologically, but who evokes sympathy personally from his supporters. In this sense, the list of candidates is completely representative. It is a different matter that the communist is not really a communist and the democrats are not entirely democrats (some of them aren't democrats at all), and that even Zhirinovsky has always been notorious for the artificiality of much of his behavior. So the list reflects some type of popular demand -- but not in an entirely adequate way."