Moscow is a city-state. There are two cities in Russia, whose mayors hold the rank of governor -- Moscow and St. Petersburg. Moskovskaya Oblast (Moscow Suburbs Region) is another separate state. The reasons for the special status of these regions are their enormous size, population (almost one third of the country's population), and economic significance (almost all Russia's businesses that "matter" are registered and managed in Moscow).
Moscow just had parliamentary elections and - surprise - Putin's United Russia Party won the elections with 47.25% of the votes. Somehow United Russia forgot to take down the agitation posters around the city on the day of the elections, which is illegal, but who cares, if the ones who are supposed to enforce the law are all party members.
The new improved Communist Party, without such tricks, received 16.75%, and surprisingly (not sarcastic, but sincerely) Yabloko, the liberal democratic party came out with 11.11%, which is a lot for a truly liberal party. The reasons for the liberals' success might be different: 1) city people prefer "educated" and "intellectual" liberals, 2) Russians are getting tired of voting for whomever they are told to vote.
LDPR, the Zhirinovsky-the-clown party gained only 8%, and Rodina, which was supposed to become the real hit of the elections, had been banned from the elections. What is interesting, Rodina is the only party that addressed the city-related issues, though their presentation were often racist and xenophobic. Other parties' campaigns were based upon the popularity of their leaders, and had nothing to do with the real city issues and problems.
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