You're reading: RFE/RL: Sagging popularity forces Russia’s ruling party to dig into its box of election tricks

Oleg Shein might seem like a perfect choice of a candidate to challenge the ruling-party incumbent in the race for governor in Russia’s Astrakhan Oblast.

A State Duma deputy who endured a 40-day hunger strike to press allegations of electoral fraud back in 2012, Shein polls well and his name is known beyond the southern region on the Caspian Sea.

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