New York Times: “With election day looming, Nikolai Loktev was in a panic: The mayor of a tiny village of log houses, wood-burning stoves and rutted dirt roads 300 miles east of Moscow, he was running for re-election unopposed. In a Western democracy, this would not necessarily set off alarms; it might even be welcomed. But in Russia, where elections are rigged and the ruling United Russia party virtually always wins, the bedrock political principle is to create the illusion of democratic choice. For that, Mr. Loktev needed an opponent.”
“But it was proving difficult to find one in the village. He had already asked a number of Povalikhino’s residents, including his assistant at city hall and a member of the Communist Party who had run and lost in elections in 2011, but both declined. When he finally found who he thought was a willing patsy in the person of one Marina Udgodskaya, who cleans city hall, he thought his troubles were over. But then she won.”