Pension reforms hurt Vladimir Putin’s allies in local elections
Vladivostok/Moscow — Russia’s governing United Russia Party suffered a rare setback in regional elections despite winning most of the seats, a reversal its leaders and election chiefs blamed on unpopular plans to raise the pension age. The results in weekend voting for heads of about one-third of Russia’s regions were the worst for United Russia, which backs President Vladimir Putin, since elections for regional leaders were reintroduced in 2012. Four Kremlin-backed candidates were forced into run-off votes. Two were beaten into second place — by a communist and a nationalist — and two finished first but failed to win the more than 50% of votes needed for outright victory. Opponents of the pension reforms, which envisage raising the retirement age for men to 65 from 60 and to 60 from 55 for women, staged protests across Russia as voting took place. Police detained more than 1,000 people, OVD-Info, a rights organisation that monitors detentions, said. Jailed opposition leader Alexei ...
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