In Moscow, The Fix Is In

Yevgeny Volk / September 09, 2009

MOSCOW – The upcoming October 11th Moscow city council elections go beyond routine local politics. They are turning into a primary of sorts for the balance of political forces nationwide.

Moscow, the Russian Federation’s largest constituent territory and seat of the federal government, has also has accumulated about 85% of the nation’s financial capital and is clearly the object of the Kremlin’s close attention. The Kremlin is interested in securing the maximum loyalty of the local authorities and the city’s socio-political environment stability.

Registration of candidates for the Moscow city council elections closed last week. Since Candidates will run under a party-list system the registration process served as a powerful filter to keep opponents of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, a pro-government United Russia party representative, out of the election entirely. (more…)