Putin wins fourth term with record vote

Putin took 76.67 percent of the vote, well ahead of his nearest competitor Pavel Grudinin

MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin was on Monday set for another six years in power after his landslide victory in Russia’s presidential election, but so far only close allies have congratulated him as Moscow’s relations with the West disintegrate.

Putin, who has ruled Russia for almost two decades, recorded his best election performance with 76.67 percent of the vote but rejected the possibility of staying in power indefinitely.

The opposition said the results were rigged, reporting ballot stuffing and other cases of alleged fraud as the Kremlin pushed for a high turnout to provide further legitimacy to Putin’s historic fourth term. Putin, who has extended his power until at least 2024 and is already Russia’s longest-serving leader since Stalin, ruled out the remaining president for life.

“Listen to me. It seems to me that what you are saying is a bit funny,” he told reporters Sunday night when asked if he saw himself running for president again in 2030.

“What, am I going to sit here until I am 100 years old? No.”

The Russian strongman ran against seven other candidates, but his most vocal critic Alexei Navalny was barred from the ballot for legal reasons, and the outcome was never in doubt.

“I see in this (result) the confidence and hope of our people,” Putin said in an address to a crowd of supporters on a square next to the Kremlin after exit polls put him on track for a resounding victory. Turnout was at more than 67 percent as authorities used both the carrot and the stick to boost engagement in the polls.

According to central election commission data with 99.8 percent of ballots counted, Putin took 76.67 percent of the vote, well ahead of his nearest competitor Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin, who was on 11.79 percent.

Ultra-nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky took around 5.66 percent, former reality TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak was on 1.67 percent, while veteran liberal politician Grigory Yavlinsky received just over 1 percent of the vote.

Navalny — who called on his supporters to boycott the “fake” vote and sent more than 33,000 observers across the country to see how official turnout figures differed from those of monitors — said there had been “unprecedented violations”.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who has lived in Russia after leaking classified information about the US government’s surveillance programmes, tweeted a picture apparently showing ballot stuffing in a Russian school.

The election was held as Russia faces increasing isolation on the world stage over a spy poisoning in Britain and a fresh round of US sanctions just as it gears up for the football World Cup in the summer.

PM Narendra Modi has congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his victory in the presidential polls and expressed hope that under his leadership, the Indo-russia strategic partnership will continue to grow from strength to strength, the External Affairs Ministry said on Monday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has just been handed a second term himself also congratulated Putin.

MOSCOW: Russian media on Monday said Vladimir Putin's growing standoff with the West had boosted the size of his election victory, while liberal journalists voiced fears over his stranglehold on politics.

"An absolute victory and a complete knockout for his opponents," pro-kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda headlined its story.

The result deals a "crushing blow" to the West, the tabloid added, saying that "the worst nightmare of our Western 'partners' has come true."

"Unprecedented pressure from the outside world on Russia force Russians to close ranks and unite around the authorities," political analyst Andrei Kolyadin told Vedomosti liberal business daily.

Russians were spurred by issues that have isolated Moscow on the international scene such as the Olympic ban over doping and the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain, analysts said.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta quoted political analyst Alexei Mukhin estimating that the fact that Western powers "are ostracising our country" added 5 to 10 percent points to the turnout.

"The foreign policy factor guaranteed a high turnout," the newspaper wrote.

Media also attributed Putin's convincing victory to the mass campaign by election officials to rally voters.

Meanwhile Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny's calls to boycott the vote had the opposite effect -- bolstering turnout, some newspapers wrote.

Navalny's boycott campaign alienated "even protest-minded citizens," wrote Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily.

The result "pulled the rug from under" chief Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny who battled to expose violations through a massive observer campaign but failed to prove Putin does not enjoy national support, Komsomolskaya Pravda claimed.

Kommersant FM journalist Stanislav Kucher slammed the opposition in an opinion piece on its website, saying their failure to agree among themselves had helped Putin. "In Putin's place I would now hand them state awards."

Liberal media such as Vedomosti focused on the "problem of 2024", when Putin will be constitutionally barred from standing for a third consecutive term, saying: "There is no feeling that another six years will become Putin's last in power."

"Ahead is either passing power to a prepared successor or redoing the Constitution to preserve personal power," it wrote, saying that Putin faces "risks ahead."

Kucher of Kommersant FM went further, urging Russians to emigrate.

"You were warned that the vertical of power was for real and for a long time," he said.

"Have you been thinking about emigrating for a long time but didn't decide to do it, hoping for something unclear? What can I say, this really is the ideal moment. Everything is clear at least for six years ahead."

Putin, who has extended his power until at least 2024 and is already Russia's longest-serving leader since Stalin, ruled out remaining president for life.

“Listen to me. It seems to me that what you are saying is a bit funny,” he told reporters Sunday night when asked if he saw himself running for president again in 2030.

“What, am I going to sit here until I am 100 years old? No.”

The Russian strongman ran against seven other candidates, but his most vocal critic Alexei Navalny was barred from the ballot for legal reasons and the final outcome was never in doubt.

“I see in this (result) the confidence and hope of our people,” Putin said in an address to a crowd of supporters on a square next to the Kremlin after exit polls put him on track for a resounding victory.

Turnout was at more than 67 per cent as authorities used both the carrot and the stick to boost engagement in the polls.

Selfie competitions, giveaways, food festivals and children's entertainers were laid on at polling stations in a bid to create a festive atmosphere around the election. But employees of state and private companies reported coming under pressure to vote.