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Russian Voters Turn Out for Putin and United Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin waits to cast his vote at a Moscow polling station.
(By Alexei Boitsov -- Bloomberg News)
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The couple then went to eat lunch at a restaurant serving Siberian cuisine, and Putin asked the manager if he had a free table.
"There is always a place for you," was the reply, echoing United Russia's sole theme in a campaign devoid of other issues.
Buoyed by rising prosperity, Russians credit Putin with restoring the country's economy and its place on the world stage after the poverty and chaos of the 1990s.
"I voted for United Russia. Who else?" Alexander Kotov, 47, a businessman, said after casting his ballot in western Moscow. "Our life has become better."
His view was echoed by Irina Ivanova, a 63-year-old pensioner, who said she has seen the improvement in the life of her daughter, a teacher whose salary has increased.
"I remember when she didn't get her salary for two months at a time," Ivanova said.
But others said they were disillusioned by United Russia's dominance and the sense that the result was preordained.
"I cannot call myself an active voter, but this time I decided that I must go and vote against United Russia," said Dmitry Fomichev, 37, a dentist who voted for Yabloko in southern Moscow. "What they have been doing is total arbitrariness. I know, of course, that they will win, and we cannot do much anyway. But at least I will be sure that I did not vote for them."
Olga Vlasenkova, 62, a retired engineer, said she voted for the Communists for the first time in her life because they are the last opposition party standing.
"During the Soviet times I was never a member of the Communist Party, and in the '90s I voted for liberals like Yabloko," she said. "I haven't changed my ideas or values, but it seems to me the Communists are the only real force who can oppose United Russia."
