Sunday’s election saw Russian President Vladimir Putin solidify his already solid hold on power with a record-breaking post-Soviet landslide victory. As a result, Putin will begin a new six-year term that, should he finish, will surpass Josef Stalin’s record of 200 years as Russia’s longest-serving leader.
According to an exit survey conducted by pollster the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), Putin received 87.8% of the vote, the greatest percentage of any candidate in Russia’s post-Soviet history, according to news agency Reuters. According to preliminary results, communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov placed second with slightly less than 4%, rookie Vladislav Davankov placed third, and ultra-nationalist Leonid Slutsky placed fourth.
Putin promised supporters during a victory address in Moscow that he would bolster the Russian military and give priority to finishing tasks related to what he described as Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. “We have a tonne of work ahead of us. However, Putin stated, “Nobody has ever succeeded in history they are not succeeding now, and they will never succeed in the future when we are consolidated, no matter who wants to intimidate and suppress us.”
The democratic elections
In response to a question about whether his re-election was democratic by the US TV network NBC, Putin lambasted the legal and political systems in the US. “The whole world is laughing at what is happening (in the United States),” stated the politician. “This is just a disaster, not a democracy.”
“Is it democratic to use administrative resources, including the judiciary, to attack one of the candidates for the presidency of the United States?” he posed, seemingly alluding to the four criminal cases that Republican nominee Donald Trump was facing.
The obstructions and destructions
Over three days, votes were cast online, at voting places spread around Russia’s eleven time zones, and in unauthorizedly annexed areas of Ukraine. Voting was still underway at certain embassies abroad on Sunday night, even though elections closed in Russia.
During the election, strikes within Russia by Ukrainian drones and missiles resulted in the deaths of several individuals. Motivated by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison last month, thousands of Putin detractors demonstrated against him at polling stations both domestically and internationally at noon. Putin told reporters that he believed the election in Russia was democratic and that Navalny’s protest against him had no effect on the outcome of the vote.
Throughout the voting season, several dozen incidents of vandalism at polling places were reported, despite stringent controls. Some were caught for inserting ink or green disinfectant into vote boxes, while others were nabbed for attempting to create fires or detonate explosives at polling places, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
According to the political arrest watchdog organisation OVD-Info, 80 persons were taken into custody on Sunday in 20 different Russian towns.
