Russian elections after an eternity under Putin

This week’s show tackles Russia’s 2023 regional elections, scheduled for Sunday, September 10, though several regions will keep polling stations open all weekend. “Up for grabs” in contests with mostly predetermined outcomes are 26 gubernatorial offices and seats in 20 regional parliaments. There’s also a whole mess of municipal and local races. Occupying forces in four regions of Ukraine are staging votes, too.

Foreign Policy Research Institute Eurasia Program Fellow András Tóth-Czifra joined the podcast to explain what’s at stake, how Russian voting has evolved over the years, and why some pockets of competitive politics persist. To learn about the challenges of monitoring Russian elections today and the remaining opportunities for “protest voting,” The Naked Pravda spoke to University of Bonn social scientist Dr. Galina Selivanova.

Timestamps for this episode:

• (2:20) What’s at stake in this weekend’s voting
• (7:54) Pockets of competition
• (16:12) “Golos” election monitors
• (28:51) How election fraud works in Russia
• (32:35) Apathetic voters and protest potential at the polls

New episodes of The Naked Pravda are released at the end of every week. Catch each show by subscribing through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or one of these other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the podcast, please write to Kevin Rothrock at kevin@meduza.io with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”

Production and mixing by Ania Kovalenko. Sound editing by Kevin Rothrock.

Cover photo: Ilya Naymushin / Sputnik / imago images / Scanpix / LETA