Putin holds grip on Kremlin
Feelings mixed after landslide victory in poll
VLADIMIR Putin was yesterday 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% 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.
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 said at the weekend 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% 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.
Putin took 76.67% of the vote, well ahead of his nearest competitor Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin, who was on 11.79%. Ultra-nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky took about 5.66%, former reality TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak was on 1.67%, while veteran liberal politician Grigory Yavlinsky received just over 1% 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.
Navalny’s opposition movement and the non-governmental election monitor Golos reported ballot stuffing, repeat voting and Putin supporters being bussed into polling stations en masse.
But the electoral commission dismissed most concerns, saying monitors sometimes misinterpret what they see.
Runner-up Grudinin said the elections had been dishonest.
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 ballot stuffing seen today in Moscow and elsewhere in the Russian election is an effort to steal the influence of 140+ million people,” he said. “Demand justice; demand laws and courts that matter.”
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 June.
Among the few leaders to congratulate Putin so far was Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has just been handed a second term himself and has gained a path to indefinite rule after presidential term limits were lifted last week.
“China is willing to work with Russia to keep promoting China-Russia relations to a higher level, provide driving force for respective national development in both countries, and promote regional and global peace and tranquillity,” Xi said.
In Latin America, the presidents of the leftist regimes in Venezuela and Bolivia both effusively congratulated Putin on his “overwhelming” victory.
The president has said he will use his fourth term to address a litany of domestic problems including widespread poverty and poor healthcare.