Smart voting

Smart Voting is a voting strategy aimed at coordinating opposition-minded voters in order to reduce the influence of the ruling party United Russia in representative bodies. Smart Voting is based on the idea of consolidated voting for the opposition candidate with the best chance of winning in a particular constituency. Smart Voting was widely used by the opposition three times - in 2019, 2020 and 2021 - in elections at different levels, which affected the results of opposition candidates.

The idea of Smart Voting was first announced by Alexei Navalny and his team in 2018 against the backdrop of the declining ratings of United Russia. The 2018 Smart Voting campaign envisioned smart and coordinated voting to reduce the dominance of United Russia representatives in single-mandate and multi-mandate constituencies, reducing the "dispersion" of votes among opposition candidates. Navalny and his team selected the strongest opposition candidate in each district based on polls and results of previous elections. After that, they invited their supporters and opposition electorate to vote for this candidate. The full methodology of candidate selection was not revealed, but Navalny's team assured the selection was impartial. Their recommendations often included candidates from systemic opposition parties, especially the CPRF.

Smart Voting campaigns covered most of the elections held on Unified Election Day. Recommendations were developed for constituencies in many municipal and regional legislative elections and, in 2021, for the State Duma elections. Smart Voting recommendations did not apply to gubernatorial elections (where it was suggested to vote for any opposition candidate) and party-list voting (where it was suggested to vote for any opposition party that could overcome the threshold). Since 2022, Smart Voting recommends only politicians with a clearly expressed anti-war position.

Navalny's team published Smart Voting recommendations on a special website a few days before election day. In the 2019 and 2020 elections, users had to enter their addresses to access the recommendations of Smart Voting. In 2021, after the authorities blocked all websites related to Smart Voting, full lists of recommendations were published on other online resources, including independent media.

Research shows that Smart Voting increases the percentage of votes cast for candidates supported by it. For example, in the 2019 Moscow City Duma elections, 20 out of 45 candidates supported by Smart Voting won. Candidates supported by Smart Voting in the 2019 municipal elections in St. Petersburg gained an additional 7%, and candidates supported in the 2020 elections gained an additional 8%.