Worried about a lower turnout for Vladimir Putin’s fourth election bid, the Kremlin has told regional authorities to award iPhones for best polling station selfies.
A presentation from the presidential administration, seen by RBC newspaper, calls on regions to hold “Election Photo” contests during the March ballot to “mobilise voters of 18-39 years of age” and “create a positive backdrop and holiday atmosphere at polling places”.
According to the plan, volunteers will help voters take selfies in special picture frames set up at polling stations and upload the shots to Instagram or VK, Russia’s biggest social network, with a contest hashtag.
The enticement is being seen as mitigation against a worrying trend of apathy, and could hand Mr Putin the turnout he needs to fend off any scrutiny over legitimacy in the likely event he wins a fourth term.
The newspaper quoted two sources close to the Kremlin as saying the prizes will be iPhones and iPads paid for by the regions.
The selfie contest concept was tested in seven cities during gubernatorial elections in September.
The presidential administration has also suggested voting places have games for parents and children, like guessing a word or kicking a goal.
With approval ratings above 80 percent, Mr Putin will almost certainly win the election, even though he only officially announced his candidacy in December. He faces no serious competition after opposition leader Alexei Navalny was barred from running last month due to a politicised embezzlement conviction.
But since Mr Putin has already been in power 18 years, and another six-year term is virtually guaranteed, fewer Russians see a reason to go to the polls. In a November survey by the independent Levada Centre, 58 per cent of respondents said they intended to vote in March, down from 69 per cent before the 2012 election and 75 per cent before the 2008 election.
A turnout lower than the 65 per cent achieved in 2012 could call the president’s legitimacy into question.
Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy head of the presidential administration, told deputy governors in charge of domestic politics in December that the “main candidate”—a clear reference to Mr Putin—should win 70 per cent of the vote with a turnout of 70 per cent, RBC reported.
When Ksenia Sobchak, a socialite and journalist dubbed “Russia’s Paris Hilton,” announced a hopeless presidential run in November, many saw it as a Kremlin ploy to attract voter interest.
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