Opinion polls carried out at the beginning of February showed that Putin's popularity is slowly decreasing. However, as the choice of 58 percent of those polled, he still far outdistances his closest challenger, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, who was selected by only 15 percent of respondents. In such a case, the articles argue, the best thing a disillusioned electorate can do to reappropriate the election is to vote against all candidates. The site and its supporters explain that, according to Russia's new electoral legislation, presidential candidates who run in an election considered invalid lose the right to run in a new election whose date has to be established by the upper house of parliament. According to the law, the presidential election cannot be considered valid if less than 50 percent of the electorate casts its ballot, or if a majority of the votes is cast against all candidates.
Most political commentators see the possibility of an invalid election as unlikely.
However, the very fact that a discussion of this kind is under way among politicians, journalists, and human rights activists shows how seriously many people have modified their expectations toward a possible future Putin presidency during the last two months. The result, however, will be visible only as the presidential campaign will gain full speed in the next weeks. It seems that Russia's most popular internet media will do little to raise support for candidate. It has created and manages the websites of several Russian politicians, including former Premier Sergei Kirienko and former Deputy Premier Boris Nemtsov. Pavlovsky is considered close to the Kremlin.