Thousands of people turned out in Moscow on Saturday to support the right of opposition candidates to be allowed to take part in elections to Moscow's city legislature, which are set to take place on September 8. The protest in the center of the Russian capital was organized by the country's Libertarian Party and had been authorized. The independent monitor "White counter" said 22,500 people attended the rally, while police put the figure at 12,000.

Protesters in the crowd chanted "Let them run!," "This is our city!" and "For free elections!"

Alexei Navalny

Opposition politician Alexei Navalny was present, shaking protesters' hands and talking to the candidates who weren't registered. This issue is one of the rare ones to unite Russia’s usually divided opposition.

Navalny made this point as he addressed the crowds: "Usually it is my exclusive right" not to be registered for elections, he joked, referring to the 2018 presidential elections in which he was not allowed to run. "But this has united us."

Navalny told journalists the mayor's office in Moscow would not be able to ignore such a huge crowd. He also insisted authorities could not ignore the huge number of people who planned to vote for independent candidates and had added their names to the signature lists the candidates need to collect to be registered.

Responding to a question from DW, Navalny insisted, "People in Russia don't understand how little support there is for the ruling party United Russia. Actually there is no support for them."

At the end of the rally, the independent candidates attending took to the stage together. They told protesters that if the authorities didn't register them by next Saturday, they would protest again in a week outside the Moscow mayor's office. In response to this idea, the demonstrators cheered.

Opposition candidates took to the stage together

Encouraging authorities to register candidates

One of the organizers of the demonstration, Libertarian Party politician Mikhail Svetov, told DW that he hoped the large turnout for the rally would encourage the authorities to decide to register the candidates. And if not, he said, the people here would be angry and politicized: "People have to get angry, so that they start fighting."

A young man at the rally told DW: "We want to be heard. It is important to fight against the government's methods. Otherwise there eventually just won't be elections anymore."

Earlier this week, city authorities officially announced they had refused to register nearly 30 candidates for the elections, including prominent critics of the Kremlin. The most well-known opposition figures include former Duma representative Dmitry Gudkov, Lyubov Sobol — an ally of Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition leader — and Ilya Yashin, who is currently a local Moscow councilor and the most popular candidate in his district, according to polls.

In order to be registered, the candidates had to collect signatures from supporters, a system seen as an obstacle to independent candidates running. This time, authorities accused the candidates of faking some of the signatures. But observers and the opposition candidates themselves have accused city authorities of consciously putting mistakes into the database to invalidate the signatures.

A woman at Saturday's rally holding a sign in support of Zashin told DW: "I am a law-abiding citizen but there are limits. I will protest until the authorities at the very least recognize my signature as valid. I signed for one of the candidates and the authorities have decided my signature isn't valid."

Making a point through the rally

Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the accusations, saying that any complaints should be taken to court.

An older couple at the rally told DW: "We are here because we have four children and four grandchildren and we want them to have a future. And we want to be able to choose what that future is."

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Targeting candidates

Speaking to DW ahead of the protest, Gudkov accused the authorities of purposely invalidating the signatures he had collected. The authorities, he argued, "don't like me because I could win, just like the other independent candidates could as well."

Gudkov pointed out that if all the independent candidates won, and if they were joined by a few candidates from other parliamentary opposition parties, the opposition could have a majority in Moscow's parliament. The government "got really scared, so they were just thuggish and shameless and decided not to let us run," he said.

Read more: Firings at Russia's Kommersant newspaper prompt press freedom concerns

Opposition candidates and their supporters have been protesting for the right to take part in the election since last Sunday, with people gathering every evening on a square in central Moscow. Russian officials refused to register the candidates early last week, with the final list published on Wednesday. But nightly protests have continued, and Gudkov is convinced that they are creating a problem for the government by calling attention to the actions of the authorities.

Gudkov sees the authorities' action as an insult to democracy, a blow to the "citizens of Moscow" who gave the candidates their signatures. "With every protest, the risk to the authorities and the damage to their reputation grows. And they will have to start weighing up what is scarier: letting the opposition run or risking the people of Moscow hating them forever."

Not just a regional vote

Around 7 million Muscovites are eligible to elect 45 lawmakers to the city's parliament, currently dominated by the ruling United Russia party, which is loyal to President Vladimir Putin. Though the parliament is limited in its political powers, this regional race has national importance for Russia, which is highly centralized.

As political analyst Ilya Graschenkov pointed out, nearly 10% of the Russian population lives in the city of over 12 million, and "elections in the capital create political trends."

Gudkov agreed, saying the upcoming election was "symbolic."

"A victory in Moscow will have an effect on other regions, and it will convert into votes in federal elections later," he said.

The messages at the rally were direct, and multi-lingual

Putin's party in hot water?

By running in the Moscow election, the opposition candidates had hoped to capitalize on growing discontent in Russia. Living standards and real wages have consistently dropped, and the government recently passed an unpopular pension reform and increased value-added tax. This dissatisfaction has eaten away at support for the ruling United Russia party: Surveys released by state pollster VTsIOM earlier this month showed the party with 32.3% support, the lowest rate since surveys began in 2006.

Read more: EU: Russia spread disinformation ahead of EU elections

That could explain why not a single candidate will be running on a United Russia ballot in the upcoming vote. Instead, the ruling party's politicians are running as independents. Political analyst Graschenkov said that refusing to register the competition was not a smart strategy for the government.

"This is once again pushing people out onto the streets and pulling people who are usually apolitical into politics," he said, predicting the protests could last at least until the vote in September. After that, people's "dissatisfaction with the actions of the Russian government will take on some other shape," he said.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Face of Russia's opposition The lawyer-turned-political campaigner has been among the most prominent figures of Russia's opposition to President Vladimir Putin. Navalny came to prominence in 2008, when his blog exposing malpractice in Russian politics and among the country's major state-owned companies came to public attention. Revelations published on his blog even led to resignations, a rarity in Russian politics.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Disputed parliamentary elections In 2011 Navalny was arrested for the first time. He ended up spending 15 days in prison for his role at a rally outside the State Duma in Moscow. A recent parliamentary election victory for Putin's United Russia had been marred by instances of ballot stuffing, reported by demonstrators on social media. Upon his release, Navalny pledged to continue the protest movement.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Second jail term After being reelected president in 2012, Putin ordered Russia's Investigative Committee to launch a criminal inquiry into Navalny's past. The following year the campaigner was charged and sentenced again, this time for five years, for alleged embezzlement in the city of Kirov. However, he was released the following day pending affirmation from a higher court. The sentence was later suspended.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Anti-Kremlin platform grows Despite being embroiled in legal troubles, Navalny was allowed to run in the 2013 Moscow mayoral election. A second-place finish behind Putin ally Sergei Sobyanin was seen as an overwhelming success and galvanized the Russian opposition movement.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Navalny takes to social media His anti-Kremlin rhetoric led Navalny to be banned from appearing on Russian state-owned television. That forced him to deliver his political message over social media and his blog. His talent for public speaking, punchy use of language and humorous mockery of Putin and his loyalists mobilized a legion of young followers.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Presidential ambitions In December 2016, the opposition leader announced the formal start of his campaign to run for the Russian presidency in March 2018. However, repeated accusations of corruption, which his supporters say are politically motivated, ultimately barred him from running for public office.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Convicted of corruption In 2016 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia had violated Navalny's right to a fair trial in the Kirov case. Although Russia's Supreme Court overturned the five-year sentence, the verdict was sent back to the Kirov court. In 2017, this court again handed Navalny a suspended five-year sentence.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Moscow's biggest protests in 6 years In February 2017, anti-corruption rallies across dozens of Russian cities led to the arrests of over 1,000 demonstrators, including Navalny. The protests, believed to have been the largest in the Russian capital since 2012, were spurred by a report published by Navalny linking Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to a property empire valued at billions of euros. Navalny was released 15 days later.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Physically assaulted Navalny was assaulted and hospitalized in April 2017 after being hit in the eye with a chemical green dye. The attack permanently damaged his right cornea. Navalny accused Russian authorities of stopping him from seeking medical treatment abroad due to the embezzlement conviction against him. He was eventually permitted by the Kremlin human rights council to travel to Spain for eye surgery.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Repeated arrests In 2018, Navalny was jailed for 30 days. After his release in September, he faced another 20-day stint. In April 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Russia had violated Navalny's rights by holding him under house arrest for most of 2014 during the Kirov embezzlement case.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Alleged poisoning In July 2019, only weeks after being released from a 10-day jail sentence, Navalny was again jailed for 30 days for violating Russia's strict protest laws. The opposition leader accused Russia of poisoning him with an allergic agent while in jail.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Raids and frozen assets Using YouTube and social media, Navalny had amassed a following of millions by late December 2019. Then police raided his Anti-Corruption Foundation headquarters (above), detaining him in the process. His staff said officials wanted to confiscate their tech equipment. Just a few months later, in March, Navalny reported that his bank accounts and those of his family members had been frozen.

Who is Alexei Navalny? An airport drink — and a coma On August 20, Navalny's spokesperson announced that after drinking tea while in an airport, the activist became violently ill during a flight. The plane made an emergency landing, and Navalny was rushed to a hospital (above), where he was reported to be in a coma and on a ventilator. Navalny's associates claimed he had been poisoned and pointed to previous attacks on the activist. Author: David Martin



Not keeping quiet

For now, it certainly doesn't seem as if candidates or their supporters are willing to give up.

Gudkov told DW he is willing to take the case all the way to court.

"We will fight to be registered. If they register us we will win, we will do everything to win," he said. Referring to the United Russia candidates, he says "we won't just hand them victory on a platter."

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