Seeing double! How to win a poll ‘landslide’ the Putin way
DAMNING new images have emerged appearing to show blatant vote-rigging in the Russian election that secured Vladimir Putin a fourth term as president on Sunday.
Official results showed Putin was returned to power with a record 76 per cent of the vote but reporters photographed 17 people apparently casting ballots at more than one polling station.
Many appeared to be public employees, and some showed up in groups and with minibuses bearing the names of state-provided services.
Though Putin is genuinely popular among Russians, his opponents claim the election was skewed by officials loyal to the regime using a variety of tricks to inflate the low turnout.
Voting twice – a practice known in Russia as a ‘carousel’ – carries a hefty fine in the country. But when shown pictures of people apparently casting multiple ballots, election commission member Leila Koichuyeva said: ‘They could be twins’.
The Reuters news agency spoke to seven of those photographed, all of whom denied voting more than once or declined to comment.
Ludmila Sklyarevskaya, a hospital administrator, was among those seen voting twice in South Russia – but she insisted ‘that’s not me’ when confronted by reporters. In 12 polling stations the official turnout exceeded that kept by Reuters.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the images would only be taken seriously ‘if backed up by corresponding statements to law enforcement agencies from the observers’.