Yandiev's success sparks disputes over Muslims' role in Moscow elections

Valeria Kasamara, a competitor of Magomet Yandiev, a former Minister of Economy of Ingushetia and now Associate Professor at the Moscow State University (MSU), has associated his success at the recent elections to the Moscow City Duma with support of local Muslims; however, Mr Yandiev has refuted this version.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that September 8 was the Russia's unified voting day.

By the outcomes of September 8 elections, 20 candidates, nominated and supported by oppositional parliamentary parties, were elected to the Moscow City Duma, the "Interfax" reports.

In particular, Magomet Yandiev, a candidate from the "Spraveslivaya Rossia" (Fair Russia) Party, gained more votes in the 45th constituency than his competitor, Valeria Kasamara, Vice-Rector of the Higher School of Economics, the "Dozhd" (Rain) portal has reported on its website.

Yandiev's candidacy was supported by Alexei Navalny's team under the "Smart Voting" strategy. The "Smart Voting" online service has drawn voters' attention to real competitors to the candidates of the "Edinaya Rossia" (United Russia) Party, supporters of Alexei Navalny has stated earlier.

Valeria Kasamara has suggested that Magomet Yandiev's victory has to do, in particular, with the "support of local Muslims."

However, Mr Yandiev has refuted this version. "Yes, I'm a Muslim, but I don't see any evidence that the Muslim Ummah (community) has voted for me en masse. Muslims, in principle, are spread in a sort of a thin layer throughout Moscow; there is practically no concentration of them in a particular district," the "Business FM" quotes Yandiev on its website as saying.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 9, 2019 at 04:47 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.