More than 50% of Muscovites to vote for Sobyanin – poll

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Maria Stambler – August 14, 2013) On September 8, Muscovites will head to the polling station to vote for the new mayor and between 53-55% have already decided to cast their vote for acting Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, according to the latest poll by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion.

The poll was conducted by telephone between August 8 and August 10 among 1,200 residents of the capital. It also showed that between 73-76% plan on voting in the upcoming elections.

Apart from Sobyanin from the ruling United Russia Party, there are five other candidates: Ivan Melnikov of the Communist Party, Nikolai Levichev of A Just Russia, Mikhail Degtyarev of LDPR, Sergei Mitrokhin of the Yabloko Party and Alexei Navalny of PRP-Parnas.

“Trailing in second is Alexei Navalny, with 8-9%. His results are stable despite his active election campaign,” the survey revealed.

Respondents also appear to recognize Sobyanin’s name better than the other candidates’: 98% heard or know of Sobyanin’s activities. This number stands at 77% for Navalny, 63% for Mitrokhin, 36% for Melnikov, 28% for Levichev, and 24% for Degtyarev.

The vast majority of Muscovites (86-87%) appear to be sure of Sobyanin’s victory in the election and explain this by the positive perception of the work he has carried out since being appointed mayor in 2010 after then-president Dmitry Medvedev sacked long-serving mayor Yury Luzhkov.

Election fraud or the use of administrative resources worried no more than 13% of the respondents.