Polls open in Russia as Putin eyes his 4th presidential term

YEKATERINBURG, Russia — Vladimir Putin’s victory in Russia’s presidential election Sunday isn’t in doubt. The only real question is whether voters will turn out in big enough numbers to hand him a convincing mandate for his fourth term — and many Russian workers are facing intense pressure to do so.

Polls opened at 8 a.m. Sunday in Russia’s Far East regions of Chukotka and Kamchatka. Voting will conclude at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT; 2 p.m. EDT) in Kaliningrad, the Baltic exclave that is Russia’s westernmost region.

Putin is so certain of winning that authorities are investing instead in massive get-out-the-vote efforts to produce a turnout that would embolden the Russian leader both domestically and internationally.

Yevgeny Roizman, the mayor of Russia’s fourthlargest city Yekaterinburg, says local officials and state employees have all received orders “from higher up” to make sure the presidential vote turnout is over 60 percent.

“They are using everything: schools, kindergartens, hospitals — the battle for the turnout is unprecedented,” said Roizman, one of the rare opposition politicians to hold a significant elected office.

A doctor at one of the city’s hospitals told The Associated Press how one kind of voting pressure works.

The doctor, who gave her name only as Yekaterina because of fears about repercussions, said she and her co-workers were told to fill out forms detailing not only where they would cast their ballots, but giving the names and details of two “allies” whom they promise to persuade to go vote.

“It’s not something you can argue about,” she said at a cafe Saturday. “People were indignant at first, said ‘They’re violating our rights’ ... but what can you do?”

Yekaterina said she isn’t sure what she’ll do with her ballot, musing that “maybe I’ll just write ‘Putin is a moron.’” But she clearly understands that not showing up at the polling place Sunday will not only endanger her job but will reflect badly on her boss, whom she likes.

The Russian doctor said she wouldn’t go to vote if she wasn’t forced to.

“What’s the point? We already know the outcome. This is just a circus show,” she said.

While Putin has seven challengers, none is a real threat. The last time he faced voters in 2012, he faced a serious opposition movement, but since then he has boosted his popularity thanks to Russian actions in Ukraine and Syria.