Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has secured his third term in office with a resounding victory in a low-key electoral campaign, according to the latest poll results revealed on Monday.
With 100% of the ballots counted as of early Monday, the website of Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) displayed Sobyanin’s impressive victory with 76.39%, or 2.5 million, of the votes.
Sobyanin, aged 65, has emerged victorious in all administrative districts of Moscow, as reported by the state-run news agency RIA Novosti.
After the release of the preliminary results, Sobyanin expressed his determination to further improve the city, stating, “I’ll do everything to make our city even cooler, more beautiful, and ahead of the whole planet.”
On his personal website, the mayor proudly declared, “Victory will be ours,” as his rival candidates from the four systemic opposition parties struggled to secure even single-digit percentages of the votes.
Leonid Zyuganov, the grandson of veteran Communist Party (KPRF) leader Gennady Zyuganov, lagged far behind with only 8.11% of the votes.
Boris Chernyshov from the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and Vladislav Davankov from the center-right New People party received 5.61% and 5.34% of the votes respectively.
The A Just Russia party’s Dmitry Gusev completed the list with 3.93%, as reported on CEC’s website.
Sobyanin’s 2023 campaign, conducted under the United Russia banner, differed from his previous election bids when he ran as an independent despite his long-standing affiliation with the ruling party.
However, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin demanded unwavering loyalty from the country’s ruling elite, with rumors suggesting that Sobyanin had attempted to distance himself from the conflict.
The mayoral election in Moscow, held from September 8-10, achieved a significant turnout exceeding 40%, marking a 20-year high.
Crediting online voting for the increased participation, Moscow’s election commission revealed that over 2.7 million Muscovites cast their ballots through an online portal.
Nevertheless, the election was marred by reports of voter intimidation, procedural violations, lack of transparency in the online voting system, and the absence of genuine opposition candidates.
The mayoral race and the numerous regional elections held across Russia over the weekend are widely regarded as a test run for the upcoming March 2024 presidential election, in which Putin is expected to seek re-election for a fifth term.
