Hey, an election is coming up!

The Duma elections are coming up on Sunday, and you could tell we hit the homestretch when the rhetoric got noticeably more, er, colorful over the past week or so. The government has put up posters on many of the city's billions of billboards and placards and subway posters reminding people to vote. They feature average, working Russians -- apparently that middle class I keep hearing about -- urging them to use the voice that the state has granted them. They're upstanding citizens like doctors and teachers and young families, and they have a voice in their future! (Unfortunately we didn't snap any pictures of my two favorites, the personable cab driver and the passionate mathematics teacher, but you get the drift). Posters I didn't see include the miserable pensioner or the unemployed alcoholic, so I guess no future for them! (Losers).








We've also seen a very great many ads from United Russia, the ruling party that is going to win a crushing majority on Sunday. You may notice their posters are the same color scheme, which is a happy coincidence. Here are some of the few that don't mention President Putin, who leads their electoral list...





Now, I would love to include some posters of the opposition parties as well, but amazingly, although I pass hundreds of placards each day -- which are changed every two or three days -- I didn't see a single one from any of the other 10 parties that are on the ballot. Silly opposition candidates! don't they see this can be a good way to let the public know they exist? I mean they're always whining about how state controlled media never covers them. If I were a cynic I'd say that their western NGO money-men are too cheap to spring for a modern election campaign!