What a surprise! Putin wins 88% of vote in Russian election
VLADIMIR Putin yesterday extended his dictatorial rule of Russia by another six years as he was declared the overwhelming victor in the presidential election.
With all his main opponents murdered, exiled or in jail, Putin won a severely compromised contest against three Kremlin-friendly candidates with 87.8% of the vote in early results.
At the end of his next six-year term, he will have overtaken Josef Stalin by spending 30 years in power. This will make Putin, 71, the longest-serving Russian leader since Catherine the Great’s 34-year reign ended with her death in 1796.
The dictator’s huge victory came despite the widespread ‘Noon Against Putin’ protest in which thousands of voters spoiled their ballot papers.
Supporters of Putin’s fiercest rival, Alexei Navalny – who mysteriously died in an Arctic prison last month – organised the protest to take place at midday yesterday, the last of three days of voting across the country. Queues were seen at noon outside several polling stations in major cities, and at election sites in other countries.
At the Russian embassy in Berlin, crowds cheered and chanted the name of Mr Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, as she joined the queue to vote. She said she wrote ‘Navalny’ on her ballot, before assuring the crowd: ‘Be brave. One day very soon we will win.’
Mr Navalny’s supporters posted videos online, showing ballot papers spoiled with the words ‘killer’ and ‘thief’. Ivan Zhdanov, the head of Mr Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said: ‘The action has achieved its goals. The action has shown that there is another Russia. There are people who stand against Putin.’
The OVD-Info group, which monitors political arrests, said more than 80 people were held in 20 cities across Russia. But the dissent made no difference to the result, with Putin gaining his biggest victory in five presidential elections since 2000.