The widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has called for people to protest against Vladimir Putin at polling booths in the forthcoming presidential election.
Yulia Navalnaya urged her supporters to protest against Putin by voting en masse at noon local time in the 17 March election, forming large crowds and overwhelming polling stations.
She said the action would also be a way to honour her late husband, who came up with the idea in one of his last public messages before his sudden death in an Arctic prison.
“I want to do what he thought was right,” Navalnaya said in a video published on Wednesday on YouTube. “There are many people around you who are anti-Putin and anti-war, and if we come at the same time, our anti-Putin voice will be much louder.”
The polling protest has been labelled “midday against Putin” and by Navalny’s allies as his “political will”.
Navalnaya called on her supporters to vote for “any candidate except Putin”.
She said: “You can ruin the ballot, you can write ‘Navalny’ in big letters on it. And even if you don’t see the point in voting at all, you can just come and stand at the polling station and then turn around and go home.”
Putin is set to secure another six-year term in the 15-17 March vote, which would keep him in the Kremlin until at least 2030.
The longtime Russian leader is facing no meaningful opposition after the Russian authorities barred two candidates who voiced their opposition to the war in Ukraine from running. Three other politicians running in the elections do not directly question Putin’s authority and their participation is meant to add a facade of legitimacy to the race.
While there are few doubts the vote will result in Putin winning his fifth term, the Kremlin still sees elections as a means for him to further legitimise his rule and the decision to go to war in Ukraine more than two years ago.
Navalnaya, who is hoping to take over her husband’s mantle as leader of the Russian opposition, also said she had drawn hope from the tens of thousands that turned out last week for the funeral of her husband.
She said: “Looking at you, I am convinced that everything is not in vain, and this thought gives me strength. Now you all know that there are actually a lot of us, all those who love and support Alexei, who share his ideas and as long as we have each other, it’s not over.”
According to a count by the Russian independent outlet Mediazona, at least 27,000 people came to say farewell to Navalny at Borisovsky cemetery on the outskirts of Moscow.
The public show of support turned Navalny’s last journey into a rare display of dissent in Russia at a time of unprecedented repression.
The Kremlin’s crackdown has left the opposition with few options to protest in the elections. Still, if people heed Navalnaya’s call, it could turn into a big rolling protest across Russia’s 11 time zones and present an awkward problem for the authorities as police would have no obvious legal grounds to disperse people standing in line to vote.
Navalnaya said: “This is a very simple and safe action, it cannot be prohibited, and it will help millions of people see like-minded people and realise that we are not alone.
“We are surrounded by people who are also against war, against corruption and against lawlessness.”
