Where Do Activists Want to Hold Rallies?Activists in St. Petersburg, Perm, Izhevsk, and Kazan were among the first to apply to hold protests. Similar initiatives soon emerged in Moscow, Syktyvkar, Ulan-Ude, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Krasnodar, and Lipetsk. In Kazan, Dmitry Rumyantsev, former head of Boris Nadezhdin’s regional campaign headquarters (Boris Nadezhdin is a Russian opposition politician who opposed the war in Ukraine and was barred by the authorities from running in the 2024 presidential election), wanted to hold rallies on October 3 and 4 in Freedom Square. He described their purpose as expressing opposition to alleged fraud in the September 18–20 elections. In Izhevsk, activist Dmitry Morozov and his supporters planned to gather up to 500 people near the Friendship of Peoples Monument on October 3. Morozov said participants wanted to demand a new election, the abolition of remote electronic voting (DEG, a system that allows voters to cast their ballots online instead of going to a polling station; election analysts consider DEG one of the ways election results can be falsified), and an investigation into alleged election fraud. After the city authorities rejected the application, the organizers decided to challenge the decision in court. In Perm, observer and former City Duma candidate Alexey Ogloblin submitted a notification for a rally he planned to hold on October 4. In St. Petersburg, Egor Pryanishnikov, a member of the unregistered Dawn party, initially submitted notifications for October 3 and 4. After his first application was rejected, he submitted new ones. Pryanishnikov explained that he wanted to draw attention to possible violations of observers’ rights and reports of election fraud. In Yekaterinburg, former Yabloko candidate for the Legislative Assembly Shana Ogney applied to hold a rally in Labor Square on October 7. In her notification, she said she wanted to speak out in support of fair elections and compliance with election law and citizens’ rights. In Ulan-Ude, Bair Tsyrenov, a Communist Party (CPRF) deputy in the People’s Khural, submitted a notification for a rally in Yubileyny Park on October 4. He described it as a protest “against the usurpation of power.” During the elections, Tsyrenov and observers reported that at one polling station, three people discovered that, according to official records, they had supposedly already voted at home. In Tyumen, blogger Kristina Nekrasova planned to gather up to 499 people in the 400th Anniversary of Tyumen Square on October 10. In Krasnodar, Yabloko campaigner Kurban Magomedrasulov submitted a notification for a rally on October 7. In Lipetsk, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) decided to hold a rally. The Communists planned to gather around 300 people near the regional cultural center on October 10. After the first application was rejected, the party’s regional committee submitted two more notifications, changing the venue. The first post-election rally had already taken place in Syktyvkar on September 25. The application was submitted by Vyacheslav Kochev, a former CPRF candidate for the State Duma. According to 7x7’s count, around 100 people gathered in Michurinsky Park. Kochev said the Communists had decided to take to the streets after receiving numerous reports of alleged violations at polling stations. How Did the Authorities Respond?Officials in most cities did not authorize the protests, citing various reasons. The Kazan Executive Committee rejected Dmitry Rumyantsev’s application. Officials considered the wording “against election fraud” too vague and questioned the organizer’s ability to ensure participants’ safety. The Perm administration also demanded that the purpose of the rally be changed. Officials argued that references to election fraud could amount to accusations against election commission members before a court had established their guilt, and cited the presumption of innocence. The Izhevsk administration attributed its refusal to the condition of the venue chosen by the organizers. Officials cited an assessment by a construction company stating that the fixtures holding the letters on the Friendship of Peoples Monument were in a hazardous condition. According to the activists, City Hall did not offer an alternative venue. They are now trying to overturn the decision in court. The St. Petersburg administration rejected Yegor Pryanishnikov’s application, citing COVID-19 restrictions. After city authorities announced that the restrictions would be lifted on October 1, the activist submitted new notifications for October 3 and 4. Moscow authorities also cited COVID-19 restrictions. At least two organizers of rallies for fair elections received this response. One of them, Vladimir Stepanov, planned to hold a rally in Theater Square on October 4. On September 29, the Sverdlovsk Oblast Ministry of Public Safety rejected Shana Ogney’s application to hold a rally in Yekaterinburg. Minister Alexander Kudryavtsev cited the state of basic readiness in effect in the region and a decision by the operational headquarters restricting public events. Ogney said she planned to appeal the decision. In Tyumen, Kristina Nekrasova said the authorities had not approved her rally. However, no official document containing City Hall’s decision was made public. After Nekrasova submitted the notification, a local police officer visited her and warned her that she could be held liable for holding an unauthorized event. The activist decided not to submit another application and asked her supporters not to come on October 10. The Lipetsk administration told the CPRF that another event had already been scheduled at the chosen venue. The Communists then submitted two new notifications proposing different venues and times. Why Did Activists Decide to Take to the Streets?The rally organizers say their decision was based not only on the final election figures. They also point to specific incidents reported by candidates and observers during the three days of voting. According to 7x7’s count, on the first day of voting, election commissions denied access to polling stations to at least 984 observers from the Communist Party (CPRF) and 350 from Yabloko. Commissions in different regions attributed the refusals to errors in documents, missing dates, and technical problems with uploading lists of observers. Observers also reported more serious incidents. For example, 48 ballots already marked for United Russia were discovered at a polling station in Komi. Central Election Commission chair Ella Pamfilova confirmed the incident, and the case materials were handed over to investigators. Rally organizers cite cases like these as grounds for questioning some of the results and demanding an investigation. Izhevsk activist Dmitry Morozov linked the wave of rally applications to the large number of reports of violations that people saw on social media after the election. For him, the rally was meant to bring this discontent out of the internet and into the public sphere. Russian state authorities offered a different assessment of the vote. On September 20, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said it had found no violations capable of affecting the election results. The Prosecutor General’s Office likewise said it had recorded no serious or widespread violations but promised to investigate the reports it had received. On September 25, the Central Election Commission certified the election results. United Russia won 349 of the 450 seats, the highest number in the party’s history; the CPRF won 37, the LDPR 23, New People 19, A Just Russia 17, and Rodina one. Independent candidates won in four other districts. The rally organizers are challenging more than just the election results themselves. For some, submitting applications to hold public rallies has also become a way to test whether citizens can openly express disagreement with how the election was conducted. | 
