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Next month voters in Moscow will go to the polls to elect their new legislature. Russia's politics are made in the capital, so Moscow elections are regarded as a national event. All the more so this year, as the Oct. 11 poll will be the first opportunity for a sizeable Russian electorate to speak out after a year-long economic crisis that brought increased unemployment and a double-digit plunge in gross domestic product.

But the election will not bring any bad news for the government. The authorities have disqualified every single candidate nominated by Solidarity, the umbrella organization encompassing Russia's pro-democracy opposition forces, leaving voters to choose among...