Moscow, 2 April: Oppositionist and blogger Aleksey Navalnyy is becoming increasingly better known among Russians, however his electoral rating is declining, sociological studies have shown.
In April 2011, few Russians had heard of Navalnyy - 94 per cent of polled persons said so to sociologists, whereas at the end of March, such people accounted for 75 per cent. Accordingly, the share of those who are aware of the blogger, who is known for his opposition and anti-corruption activities, grew from 6 to 25 per cent, Levada Centre experts who carried out a national survey told Interfax on Monday (2 April).
Meanwhile, if Navalnyy put himself forward at a presidential election, he could now count on the support of 19 per cent of voters, with the majority of people - 63 per cent - choosing not to vote for him. Another 18 per cent had not yet made up their minds on the matter. According to Levada Centre data, Navalnyy's electoral support has declined by 14 per cent.
When sociologists asked if information published by Navalnyy on the Rospil website about large-scale embezzlement by officials and closely-affiliated businessmen was true, half (50 per cent) of respondents answered affirmatively, with every sixth person (16 per cent) disagreeing. Meanwhile, every third person (33 per cent) was unable to answer the question.
One year ago, far more people were sure of the truthfulness of his reports about large-scale embezzlement of state funds by officials - 68 per cent; while fewer people hesitated to commit to an answer - 9 per cent.
The most popular reason among Russians about why Navalnyy and his associates were recently summoned by police was "to scare the blogger and his supporters, compel them to stop exposing state officials", which 38 per cent of respondents picked.
Every fifth person (19 per cent) believes that they were summoned to start an official investigation of instances of corruption that were corroborated by evidence published on the Rospil website.
Nine per cent explained this in terms of the site violating Russian laws, while another 8 per cent saw the authorities striving to "fence off civil servants and businessmen from unfounded public accusations by Navalnyy". (Passage omitted to end)
Keywords: Russia, Government, Politics - Russian News - Russia
Moscow, 2 April: Oppositionist and blogger Aleksey Navalnyy is becoming increasingly better known among Russians, however his electoral rating is declining, sociological studies have shown.
In April 2011, few Russians had heard of Navalnyy - 94 per cent of polled persons said so to sociologists, whereas at the end of March, such people accounted for 75 per cent. Accordingly, the share of those who are aware of the blogger, who is known for his opposition and anti-corruption activities, grew from 6 to 25 per cent, Levada Centre experts who carried out a national survey told Interfax on Monday (2 April).
Meanwhile, if Navalnyy put himself forward at a presidential election, he could now count on the support of 19 per cent of voters, with the majority of people - 63 per cent - choosing not to vote for him. Another 1