Voting in the 2024 Russian presidential election against Vladimir Putin at the same time so that it would be harder to falsify high numbers for Vladimir Putin
"Noon Against Putin" (Russian: Полдень против Путина, romanized: Polden protiv Putina) is an ongoing peaceful protest on 17 March of the 2024 Russian presidential election, where voters who do not support Vladimir Putin will come en masse to polling stations at noon and vote against Putin or spoil the ballot.[1] The protest has been described by the Novaya Gazeta as "Navalny's political testament" as it was the last political statement by prominent Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny prior to his death.[2]
Noon Against Putin did not advocate voting for any candidate over the others, though the Navalny team launched an app assigning one of the three spoiler candidates at random for the user to vote for to ensure that no single candidate outperforms the others.[3]
The author of the "Noon against Putin" action was politician Maxim Reznik.
In January 2024, Alexei Navalny called on Russians to take part in this event.[4] Navalny's last political statement was a call to support "Noon against Putin".[2] On 14 January 2024, participants in the talk show "What to do?" on the TV Rain participants proposed this unified strategy for the elections.[5] According to economist Sergei Guriev, in the elections on 17 March there will be no candidates who are better or worse, but only one very bad candidate.[5]Maxim Katz noted that for the first time in a long time, the entire opposition had a common goal – to campaign for a vote against Putin.[5]Ivan Zhdanov shares the same opinion, noting on 8 February that Putin wants to divide people, and this action aims to unite people against Putin.[6]
Initially, the Anti-Corruption Foundation considered the idea to be weak, but when they calculated and realized that with the number of 2058 polling stations in only one city, Moscow, if at least half a million people simultaneously come to the rally, then this will be 250 like-minded people for each of the polling stations – a lot of people at each site.[7][8]
This action is about the unity of the place and time of our protest against Putin. That is, objective parameters on which there is no need to argue and which the authorities cannot change... This is not an election – this is a "special election operation". Why does Putin need it? To prove the unity of the Fuhrer and the nation: there is Putin – there is Russia. It is important for him to confirm once again this thesis, which many already believe. Our task is to show that everything is exactly the opposite... Therefore, it is important for us to show ourselves and the world that there are many of us. So this noon should be everywhere: in Kaliningrad, Vladivostok, St. Petersburg, in the Nile Valley and on the top of Everest. This will be a Russian afternoon where Russians must demonstrate their attitude towards Putin. And doing it on site is safe and legal.[1][11]
Alexey Navalny described the action as a safe and legal way to express his protest.[9][12] Alexei Navalny also spoke about safety for those participating, since at this time the turnout is already high and there are a lot of voters, "and it is simply impossible to single out those who vote 'against'".[13]
Political scientist Abbas Gallyamov on 1 February 2024, agreeing that this is a performance, but, in his opinion, with a sufficient number of participants, "the Russian security forces and bureaucrats, the West, and Ukraine will see that Putin is not as legitimate as everyone thought".[7] A similar idea was expressed by Dmitry Kolezev.[14]
According to a Radio Liberty study conducted on 5 February 2024, the initiative is actively discussed on social networks.[14] Leonid Volkov notes that it is especially important to support the initiative in large cities.[14] Sergei Boyko reminds that when collecting signatures, the idea of showing the mass scale of the protest has already worked before.[14] Dmitry Gudkov believes that the 2024 elections should be treated as "Putin's special election operation", and although Putin will get more than 80% support, it is important to show the people the lies of Putin's result.[15]
On 28 February, the manifesto of the civil movement "Peace. Progress. Human Rights", was prepared by human rights activist Lev Ponomarev and his colleagues. Among other things, the manifesto calls for making the "Noon against Putin" action truly mass-scale: "Only mass participation gives a chance to influence the situation. So let's ensure that the whole of Russia stands in line at the polling stations, and the whole world sees it." The authors of the text called on the opposition to overcome differences and strengthen common action. "The task of the opposition in these weeks is to be with the Russians, to offer them relatively safe options for action, to maximize their voice, to agitate the doubters", the manifesto says.[2]
On 3 March, Kirill Martynov, in an interview with Idel.Realii noted that he considered the action good and believed that it was necessary to participate in it.[16] He is echoed by the head of the Watch, Evgeny Kochegin, who believes that the main thing is to fulfill Navalny's last will.[17]
Opposition from the authorities
On 2 February, the authorities threatened Yulia Galyamina with criminal charges for organizing the protest.[18]
On 2 March 2024, Roskomnadzor blocked the website of the "Noon against Putin" campaign, vpolden.org, for residents of the Russian Federation, and now it is accessible only through VPN or anonymizers.[19]
Former Legislative Assembly deputy Sergei Gulyaev shared information that Roskomnadzor sent a notice demanding that Gulyaev's video with a statement about the action be removed from the YouTube service.[20]
On 3 March 2024, the authorities of several Russian cities decided to hold Maslenitsa festivities at the same time as the "Noon against Putin" protest.[21] DOXA reminds that this practice of the Russian authorities organizing events in order to distract people from protest activity has happened before, for example in 2019.[22]
On 27 February 2024, Latvian Minister of Justice Inese Lībiņa-Egnere expressed her opinion that Russians living in Latvia and planning to attend the election "essentially support" Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.[23] On 11 March 2024, the Chief of the State police Armands Ruks warned that Russian citizens visiting the Russian embassy to vote during 15–17 March will undergo police screenings: "residence permit and visa checkpoints will be set up in coordination with the State Police of Latvia", and revealed illegal immigrants might be deported.[24]
On March 14, 2024, the Moscow Prosecutor's Office officially declared the “Noon against Putin” action a criminal offense (Article 141 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: “preventing citizens from exercising their right to vote”).[25]
