Putin Wins Russian Presidential Election By A Landslide
Vladimir Putin has secured a landslide victory in the recent Russian presidential election, winning more than 87% of the vote. Officials said turnout was greater than 74% in the election.
According to commentators, this outcome was expected, given Putin’s long-standing rule as either president or prime minister since 1999.
His party, United Russia, has also emerged victorious in parliamentary elections, albeit with a slightly smaller share of the vote compared to the previous election.
Putin was faced with three other candidates all rubber-stamped by the Kremlin and no credible opposition candidate was allowed to stand.
Opponents have either been jailed, or they have fled into exile, or they have lost their lives.
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His main critic and rival, Alexei Navalny, died on 16 February after reportedly collapsing and losing consciousness at the penal colony north of the Arctic Circle where he was serving a long jail term.
The circumstances surrounding Navalny’s demise have raised international concern. French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné stated that Navalny “paid with his life” for his “resistance to Russian oppression,” emphasizing the grim reality of Putin’s regime.
Communist Party candidate Nikolai Kharitonov managed little more than 4% of the vote and his fellow candidates even less.
Despite allegations of fraud and the exclusion of key opposition candidates, Putin’s popularity remains strong among many Russians who view him as a defender of national pride and a counterbalance to the West.
Western countries united in condemnation, labelling the vote as neither free nor fair. Germany characterized it as a “pseudo-election,” conducted under an authoritarian regime that relies on censorship, repression, and violence.
Meanwhile, UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron explicitly criticized the “illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asserted that “the Russian dictator is simulating another election.”
According to Leonid Volkov, an ally of Alexei Navalny, who was brutally attacked with a meat hammer while in exile in Lithuania last week, the percentages attributed to Putin bear no resemblance to reality.
Russians had three days to vote and people in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine had even longer, in an attempt to persuade residents to take part.
Putin hailed Russia’s presidential campaign as far more advanced than the United States of America, citing Russia’s use of online voting, which officials said brought in eight million voters. He said, as quoted by BBC:
It’s transparent and absolutely objective… not like in the US with mail-in voting… you can buy a vote for $10.
He is now set to stay in power until at least 2030, and has ruled Russia since 2000 – the longest-serving Kremlin leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
For the first time, Putin referred to Alexei Navalny by name, a month after his most vocal critic died in a penal colony inside the Arctic Circle.
He confirmed reports that he had explored exchanging him for prisoners held in the West, but on the condition that his rival never returned.
More: Pindula News
