Sobyanin a Shoo-In
Several forces among the ruling elite are challenging one another, though all are trying to help Sergei Sobyanin be reelected as mayor to Moscow to this September. This situation has given challenger Alexey Navalny a popularity boost. Though his chances as still mostly theoretical, his treatment by the ruling elite has turned him into a nearly equal opponent in the eyes of the public.
There are no threats to incumbents in September 8th regional and municipal elections in 80 federal entities. In some regions, authorities prevented challengers from registering to run, but that at least leaves them in a safe position. The United Russia Party is playing a less significant institutional role than before, but it’s still the main electoral vehicle for the ruling elite.
Sobyanin resigned from the mayorship, while remaining an acting mayor, in order to call early elections. Leaving no time for competitors to prepare, and without any comparable opposition, he’s very likely to retake the office, despite persistent problems in the city management. The decision was approved in the Kremlin, as it prevents excessive oppositional activities in the city, which would have developed if the election had been held in 2015 as planned.
Polls show that Russians have grown increasingly negative about the effects of immigration. But those attitudes have grown only slightly over last eight years, despite steady growth of the number of immigrants working in Russia.
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