When They Came for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Arrests, Siege, and Pressure on Supporters after the State Duma Elections

The miracle of the last percent

By the September elections to the State Duma, the CPRF had emerged as one of the most promising parties in terms of getting into parliament. Since the collapse of the USSR, the successor to the CPSU had consistently taken second place in parliamentary and presidential elections. It had secured its status as the so-called "intra-system opposition", largely loyal to the Kremlin. In the State Duma, the CPRF often votes for most of the laws aimed at curtailing democratic freedoms.

At the same time, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is ready to support the population in local protests without direct political demands: against the construction of a landfill at the Shies station in the Arkhangelsk region, the renovation project and the construction of the South-Eastern Chord in Moscow.

The Communists also spoke out against the pension reform in 2018, organizing a large rally in Moscow. The leader of the Moscow branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Valery Rashkin, is widely known for supporting the capital's protest initiatives, legalizing many protest actions in Moscow, banned since the beginning of the pandemic, with the help of "meetings with deputies."

Regional deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Saratov resident Nikolai Bondarenko has more than one and a half million subscribers on his YouTube channel. One of the most successful campaigns of opposition candidates in these elections was conducted by the head of the independent trade union of employees of Moscow State University, who ran from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Lobanov. The personal popularity of politicians from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, as well as the recommendations of the protest "Smart Voting" contributed to the success of the communists in the elections.

In most Moscow districts, candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation won by a landslide at polling stations. Their rivals from United Russia and candidates close to the Moscow mayor's office lost after 99% of the ballots had been counted.