RUSSIA: Opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov, Mikhail Kasyanov and Vladimir Ryzhkov cast their votes at a Moscow polling station during Russian parliamentary elections

Record ID: 327635

  • Title: RUSSIA: Opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov, Mikhail Kasyanov and Vladimir Ryzhkov cast their votes at a Moscow polling station during Russian parliamentary elections
  • Date: 5th December 2011
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 4, 2011) (REUTERS) (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) VARIOUS OF POLLING STATION RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS VLADIMIR RYZHKOV AND BORIS NEMTSOV ENTER POLLING STATION POLLING STATION WORKER REGISTERING OPPOSITION LEADER MIKHAIL KASYANOV KASYANOV SIGNING TO RECEIVE BALLOT, RECEIVING BALLOT AND STANDING UP FROM TABLE MIKHAIL KASYANOV (LEFT) AND BORIS NEMTSOV COMING UP TO BALLOT BOXES, NEMTSOV SHOWING HIS BALLOT WITH WRITING AND RED CROSS ACROSS IT MEDIA KASYANOV AND NEMTSOV PUTTING BALLOT PAPERS INTO BALLOT BOX AND SHAKING HANDS MOSCOW CITY FLAG ON WALL KASYANOV, RYZHKOV AND NEMTSOV POSING FOR CAMERAS, RYZHKOV SHOWING 'VICTORY' SIGN WITH FINGERS PEOPLE REGISTERING TO VOTE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) OPPOSITION LEADER MIKHAIL KASYANOV, SAYING: "Many will be disillusioned (after the vote), many will be upset - their expectations will have been futile. And now a different life is starting, because the fourth of March (presidential elections) will follow on automatically. Today could have been a point for the start of slow change of the situation in the country, but this will not happen. There won't be any slow change, so people will (now) start to re-evaluate the situation in our country." POLLING STATION WORKERS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) OPPOSITION LEADER BORIS NEMTSOV, SAYING: "The elections actually took place on September 24. And now we have a dummy, an imitation, a special operation. Today we came to the polling station not to vote, but to protest. We came to protest against a farce, against manipulation, against fraud, against the stealing of votes from people." JOURNALISTS TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) OPPOSITION LEADER BORIS NEMTSOV, SAYING: "They (the authorities) convulsively, hysterically and nastily grab on to power and people see that. Not only the opposition, but ordinary people too, see this on the Internet, and also everywhere else. So, I do not rule out that mass protests will take over the country today as well as in March (2012)." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AT POLLING STATION REGISTERING AND CASTING VOTES
  • Embargoed: 20th December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3S2DMZTZKKUTNLQK7XQLPFX8V
  • Story Text: Russian opposition leaders cast their votes on Sunday (December 4) in parliamentary elections that are widely seen as a test for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ruling party.
    Leaders of Russia's opposition People's Freedom Party (Parnas), which was denied registration by the country's Justice Ministry earlier this year, came to a polling station in central Moscow to vote in country-wide parliamentary polls, which the ruling United Russia party is most likely to win.
    Opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov, Mikhail Kasyanov and Vladimir Ryzhkov cast their ballots in order to protest what they called a massive election fraud.
    "Many will be disillusioned (after the vote), many will be upset - their expectations will have been futile. And now a different life is starting, because the fourth of March (presidential elections) will follow on automatically. Today could have been a point for the start of slow change of the situation in the country, but this will not happen. There won't be any slow change, so people will (now) start to re-evaluate the situation in our country," one of the leaders, former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, told journalists.
    Russia's ruling United Russia party, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin could see its vast parliamentary majority cut back in an election that will indicate the scope of fatigue with Putin's 12-year rule just three months before he asks voters to endorse his return to the Kremlin as president.
    Polls show Putin's party is likely to win a majority, but less than the 315 seats it currently has in the 450-seat lower house of parliament, known as the Duma. If it gets less than two-thirds of seats, Putin's party would be stripped of its so called constitutional majority which allows it to change the constitution and even approve the impeachment of the president.
    Opposition parties say the election is unfair because the authorities support United Russia with cash and television air time while they say vote rigging will be employed to boost United Russia's result.
    Putin ended months of speculation on September 24, by saying he will run for president next March, in an election that could open the way for him to stay in power for 12 more years.
    Putin's announcement alarmed critics who say his return to the presidency could herald an era of political and economic stagnation.
    "The elections actually took place on September 24. And now we have a dummy, an imitation, a special operation. Today we came to the polling station not to vote, but to protest. We came to protest against a farce, against manipulation, against fraud, against the stealing of votes from people," opposition leader Boris Nemtsov said referring to the date when Putin announced he was willing to take over from President Dmitry Medvedev in upcoming March elections.
    "They (the authorities) convulsively, hysterically and nastily grab on to power and people see that. Not only the opposition, but ordinary people too, see this on the Internet, and also everywhere else. So, I do not rule out that mass protests will take over the country today as well as in March (2012)," Nemtsov added.
    However, Putin remains by far the most popular politician in the vast country of more than 140 million people but there are some signs Russians may be wearying of his cultivated strong-man image.
    He and President Dmitry Medvedev have ruled in a power 'tandem' since Putin was forced by the constitution to yield the presidency in 2008 after serving a maximum two consecutive terms.
    If United Russia, which has dominated the State Duma lower house since 2003, does not retain its two-thirds majority, the biggest gainers could be the Communist Party, which is likely to remain the second biggest force. Also hoping for gains are Vladimir Zhirinovsky's nationalist LDPR and Grigory Yavlinsky's Yabloko party, which had no seats in the previous parliament.
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