In a mayoral election that tested the Kremlin's strategy against its opposition, and that brought some of the divisions within the Kremlin itself close to the surface, charismatic anti-corruption Moscow mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny made a far stronger showing than expected Sunday.
Incumbent Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, won 51.32 percent of the vote and Navalny 27.27 percent, the Moscow election commission said, in a count based on 99.6 percent of polling stations reporting. The result almost guarantees a shift in the Russian political landscape.
But Navalny, who rose to prominence after widespread vote-rigging in a 2011 election, said Sunday night he was sure that the figures were cooked behind closed doors. He called on the Kremlin — rather than City Hall — to admit that the race should go to a runoff.