OddsFrontNavalny’s team and Maxim Katz issue a joint tactical-voting list for Russia’s Duma election
Former rivals have coordinated recommendations against United Russia ahead of the September 18–20 vote, creating a rare common strategy within Russia’s divided opposition.
A coordinated opposition intervention
The team associated with Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and exiled politician Maxim Katz have released a common set of tactical-voting recommendations for Russia’s September 18–20 State Duma election. Yulia Navalnaya and Katz announced the strategy simultaneously, marking an unusual act of coordination between opposition camps that have repeatedly clashed over tactics, leadership and financial allegations.
For the nationwide party ballot, the initiative recommends choosing any party other than the governing United Russia. In single-member districts, it directs voters toward the strongest available candidate capable of reducing the ruling party’s margin. The organizers have made district-level recommendations available through Katz’s election website and the Smart Voting system associated with Navalny’s organization.
A protest strategy rather than an endorsement
The joint list does not represent a shared political platform or an endorsement of every recommended candidate. Its narrower purpose is to concentrate protest votes where the organizers believe they can impose the greatest electoral cost on United Russia. Navalnaya also urged supporters to vote on September 20 and appear at polling places around midday as a visible demonstration of opposition participation.
That approach differs from the strategy advanced by Yabloko after its federal candidate list was removed from the election. Yabloko has encouraged voters to spoil their party-list ballot while using paper rather than electronic voting. The competing instructions illustrate how restrictive ballot access has left opposition figures debating whether targeted voting, invalid ballots or boycott tactics can best register dissent.
Why the cooperation matters
The new development is the agreement itself. Katz and Navalny’s associates had spent years in public conflict, including over a 2024 investigation involving former owners of Probusinessbank and the foundation’s response. Producing a single recommendation list required them to narrow their differences at a moment when independent candidates, observers and political organizations face significant legal and administrative constraints.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has previously documented restrictions on Russian opposition parties’ ability to organize, register candidates, campaign and access media. That institutional finding does not validate any individual recommendation or predict the result, but it explains the constrained environment in which the tactical list operates. What matters next is whether the cooperation survives election day and whether authorities interfere with access to its websites or organizers.