As December’s parliamentary elections approach, the Kremlin faces a dilemma: how to keep the real opposition away from the ballot box and preserve full control over the legislature, while at the same time “letting off steam” in the face of rising discontent and presenting an acceptable facade to the West? For all its dictatorial habits, Russia’s regime certainly wants to avoid looking like Kazakhstan, where the government party won 100 percent of seats in Parliament, and longtime leader Nursultan Nazarbayev was reelected with 95 percent of the vote.
