Russia: Keeping Track of Elections · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Vladimir Kara-Murza of Spotlight on Russia writes about the peculiar process to get St. Petersburg governor Valentina Matviyenko eligible for nomination to the post of speaker of the Federation Council – Russian parliament's upper house – and how local by-elections have been held in a far from transparent process simply to elect Matviyenko, and thus be able to become speaker at all.