The article I read was from a Russian blogger and political activist Alexei Navalny, who was bared from running in the 2018 Russian presidential elections. The election day for the next president of the Russian Federation was held on March 18th, and his blog post was published 3/19, the day after Putin was reelected as the president. Navalny encouraged the people of Russia to not panic or be discouraged, that their protests and voting strikes on election day did make a difference. The goal was to have as many people as possible to not vote, so that when Putin was reelected it would be obvious that the Kremlin had to falsify voting information to make it legitimate and make it seem like more people in Russia had voted for Putin than who actually did. The article shows a poll of the candidates that people said they were going to vote for once from in February compared to another poll in March closer to election day. This is important, Navalny says in his blog, because these types of elections are part of the struggle that the Russian people are facing with their government right now and shows how corrupt it is.
“Graph of Poll of Presidential Votes for Candidates .” Навальный, Alexei Navalny, 19 Mar. 2018, navalny.com/.
The unrest that has been brewing in Russia the past several years due to the increasing unstable political climate is one that will continue as long as people feel like their voices aren’t being heard. Navalny is a voice that people can relate to, especially the next generation of voters who have grown up with the corruption being talked about in his blog. Moving forward, this younger generation will have the opportunity to change the political course of their country how they think is best.