The upstart candidacy of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has shaken up the first Moscow mayoral election in a decade. Although Kremlin-backed incumbent Sergei Sobyanin was widely expected to win easily, Navalny supporters hoped he could get enough support to force a runoff. Throughout Russia, thirty-three provinces were voting on September 8 to elect eight governors, 16 regional assemblies, and the mayors of 11 regional capitals.