Putin wins in historic landslide
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin won a record postSoviet landslide in Russia’s election yesterday, cementing his already tight grip on power in a victory he says shows Moscow was right to stand up to the West and send troops into Ukraine.
Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who first rose to power in 1999, made it clear the result should send a message to the West that its leaders would have to reckon with an emboldened Russia, whether in war or in peace, for many more years to come.
The outcome means Putin, 71, is set to embark on a new sixyear term that will see him overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia’s longestserving leader for more than 200 years if he completes it.
Putin won 87.8% of the vote, the highest result in Russia’s postSoviet history, according to an exit poll by pollster the Public Opinion Foundation.
The Russian Public Opinion Research Centre put it at 87%.
First official results indicated the polls were accurate.
The United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and other nations have said the vote was neither free nor fair due to the imprisonment of political opponents and censorship.
Communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov finished second with just under 4%, newcomer Vladislav Davankov third, and ultranationalist Leonid Slutsky fourth, partial results suggested.
Nationwide turnout was 74.22%, election officials said, surpassing 2018 levels of 67.5%.
Putin in a victory speech in Moscow told supporters he would prioritise resolving tasks associated with what he called Russia’s ‘‘special military operation’’ in Ukraine and would strengthen the Russian military.
‘‘We have many tasks ahead. ‘‘But when we are consolidated
— no matter who wants to intimidate us, suppress us — nobody has ever succeeded in history, they have not succeeded now, and they will not succeed ever in the future.’’
Supporters chanted ‘‘Putin, Putin, Putin’’ when he appeared on stage and ‘‘Russia, Russia,
Russia’’ after he had delivered his acceptance speech.
Inspired by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison last month, thousands of opponents protested at noon (local time) against Putin at polling stations inside Russia and abroad.
Putin told reporters he regarded Russia’s election as democratic and said the Navalnyinspired protest against him had had no effect on the election.
In his first comments on his death, he also said Navalny’s death had been a ‘‘sad event’’. — Reuters