Gudkov seems to be very proud of this project. “This is not about Yabloko, this is about the coalition of all democrat powers,” says Gudkov.

Nonetheless, there is a huge problem. Not many people in Moscow know about the municipal election. “The majority of Muscovites learn about it from our candidates directly and by word of mouth. The party of power, Edinaya Rossia, uses all the methods to hide the fact we are having this election. Their goal is to reduce the voter turnout in order to get their candidates elected by using the votes of municipal workers who are fully dependant on the Moscow authorities and always pick the candidates they are told to pick,” Gudkov complains.

Indeed, many locals say that the municipal election stands around Moscow districts are devoid of any information about the time of the election, the  polling places or the candidates, including not only the opposition candidates but also those who are representing the party in power.

“The political system in Moscow is architectured in the most convenient way for the authorities. This is the mechanism that does not allow the Muscovites to provide any feedback. Independent municipal deputies are the only power that would help the locals to influence the decisions of the authorities. Under present circumstances, we are fighting only against candidates from Edinaya Rossia,” the leader of the Communist Party in Moscow, Andrey Klichkov says.

The importance of the municipal elections cannot be overstated. Any political grouping that wants its candidates for mayor in 2018 to be registered must go through the so-called municipal filter, which means every participant needs to obtain at least 110 signatures of the loyal municipal deputies. For his part, Gudkov wants to challenge this system.

In 2013 during the previous mayoral campaign, another opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, competed for the office of the Mayor of Moscow. The final stage of his campaign coincided with the trial of Kirovles, where Navalny was the criminal defendant. Many observers considered the legal case politically motivated. In spite of that, on election day Navalny received the support of 27% of the voters. He сonceded to the current mayor Sergey Sobyanin, whose result was 51%, but showed a higher level of popularity than any other candidate from the political parties represented in the State Duma.

This time Navalny seems to be less interested in the campaign. He has publicly endorsed just a few candidates with whom he collaborates on his anti-corruption projects, but stayed away from extensive coverage of the municipal campaign in his blog.

“He sees himself as a celestial being and believes there is no one who is equal to him, except Putin. But Navaly is slightly jealous of Gudkov, and his lack of participation works directly for Edinaya Rossia, further lowering the interest of the electorate in the election,” points out Stanislav Belkovsky, a political analyst and publicist who is now very critical of the Kremlin.

Just a few days before election day, Navalny released a video clip asking everyone to go to the polling places. At that moment, he was sitting in front of a laptop with a sticker advertising Navalny as a candidate for the Presidential elections in 2018.

The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, TV Rain reports, voted in the municipal election on camera earlier this week for the very first time.

“I do not think the president advertises it. All evening news program on federal TV channels start after 8 p.m. when the polling places are already closed. Therefore, when people see a report about Putin voting on the municipal election, it will have no impact. The message would be: “Hey, guys! We had a municipal election, but you already missed your chance to vote!” says a political consultant affiliated with Edinaya Rossia.

Some political analysts believe that controversial decisions of the local Moscow authorities, such as the renovation program, will induce voters to come to the polling stations.

Gudkov is staying positive. “According to our data, 15% of Moscow voters supports our democratic coalition. If these 15% come and vote, it would allow us to get enough mandates for the next step - the mayoral campaign,” he says.

However, another opinion is also very popular among Moscow liberals. They maintain that voters have not had the opportunity to compare different candidates and make an educated choice in advance of coming to the polling place. “When people are not properly informed about the fact they have the election, they cannot fully exercise their right to make this choice, and this makes the election illegitimate” journalist Tonya Samsonova posted on her page on Facebook.

Talking about September 10th, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin invited the residents to join the celebration of 870 anniversary since Moscow was founded, but did not mention that the city needs to elect its municipal deputies.

Uliana Malashenko is the US correspondent for Business FM, a former parlimaentary correspondent at the State Duma for TV Rain and Kommersant FM.

Image: Reuters.