Russian city’s struggles sow political discontent

The southern Russian city of 700,000 was long a stronghold of jobs centered on producing the unlovely but reliable Lada compact automobiles.

The independent AvtoVAZagregat company that produced seats and other interior components for the cars went bankrupt, and former employees say they still haven’t received back wages.

In 2011, the Communists won 20 percent of the seats in the lower house of the national parliament, the State Duma — making them the second-largest party.

[...] Thursday, Russia’s new election chief whose notorious predecessor oversaw massive election fraud, says she will resign if the parliamentary vote is rigged.

Ella Pamfilova, a well-known human rights activist who was appointed to the job five months ago, told reporters that she has worked hard to clean up the system and overcome distrust of the electoral process.