Putin makes last-minute call for voter support

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called on Russia to vote for the main pro-Kremlin party, United Russia, in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, ignoring critics who say he is skewing the poll in his party’s favour.

The president’s last-minute appeal via a televised address to the nation came amid growing concern that voter apathy could lead to a poor turnout and much lower results than expected for United Russia.

The poll has taken on ever-greater importance since Mr Putin announced last month he would head United Russia’s party list, essentially turning the election into a referendum on his rule.

Expectations have been high for the party to win more than 66 per cent of the vote, giving it a constitutional majority – a symbolically important threshold that would grant it the ability to change the constitution at will. Mr Putin has said a landslide for the party would give him the “moral right” to retain influence after he is due to step down in March.

But pollsters and political analysts said the Kremlin might have overplayed its hand, with most citizens believing the election outcome a foregone conclusion.

“There are fears turnout will be lower than 50 per cent. People have decided that United Russia is going to win anyway so why should they bother to vote,” said Sergei Markov, a Kremlin-connected political analyst. “This will hit the vote for United Russia most of all. The turnout is crucial for legitimacy going forward.”

Mr Putin on Thursday called on the nation not to take the outcome for granted, saying this was a “dangerous illusion”. “We cannot allow the return to power of those who once tried but failed to rule the country,” the president said, clearly referring to opponents in liberal opposition parties.

“Today [they] would want to reshape and drown in empty talk Russia’s development plans and change the course supported by our nation, bringing back the times of humiliation, dependence and disintegration.”

Boris Dubin, head of socio-political research at the independent Levada Centre, said unofficial data taken in recent days suggested turnout would be much lower than the 63 per cent the centre predicted in a November 13 survey, while figures suggested United Russia could win much less than the 67 per cent it predicted in the same survey.

“These elections are taking place in a situation of total apathy,” Mr Dubin said. He cited other recent surveys conducted by the Levada Centre which showed 62 per cent of those questioned saw no connection between their lives and the results of the elections, while 54 per cent thought the results would be falsified in favour of United Russia.

One person familiar with the situation said it looked as if Mr Putin’s call was not enough. “It’s now not very likely that United Russia will get a constitutional majority,” he said.

Kremlin officials were still undecided as to whether to use their vast network of “administrative resources”, he said, using the euphemism for putting pressure on governors and other local leaders to falsify the vote for United Russia. Central Election Commission officials have denied there will be any attempt to do so.

Exile sentenced

A Russian court on Thursday sentenced in absentia Boris Berezovsky, Russian businessman and Kremlin critic, to six years in prison for embezzling millions of dollars from Aeroflot, the national airline that he controlled in the 1990s, Reuters reports.

Mr Berezovsky, a political refugee living in London, refused to co-operate with the court, saying the accusations against him were politically motivated.