Vladimir Putin’s reelection campaign has been hit by an unusual controversy. A slickly produced TV advert for the former KGB operative’s party United Russia, has been criticised for showing two people in a polling booth.
The 30-second spot shows a young man being dragged behind a curtain by a fruity young voter. The pair emerge minutes later having stamped more than their voting slips.
Having posted their ballot, the couple walks off hand-in-hand while a slogan appears on screen saying: “Let’s do it together”.
Harmless fun? Not according to Gennady Gudkov, a politician with opposition party A Just Russia, who has demanded an investigation by the electoral commission for breaking the rules of the constitution.
"United Russia has forgotten that voting in Russia is meant to be secret,” blustered Gudkov in a recently published newspaper article.
Though unlikely to derail Putin’s return to the presidency, the controversy does come at a time of increasing unpopularity for the prime minister, with a recent poll showing United Russia’s standing down to 50% from 61%.