President Vladimir Putin won a record post-Soviet landslide in Russia’s election on Sunday, cementing his already tight grip on power.
In Short
- Putin wins Russian presidential election with 87.8 per cent of votes
- Election amid conflict with Ukraine and crackdown on opposition in Russia
- Three ‘token’ candidates were allowed to contest against Putin
President Vladimir Putin won a record post-Soviet landslide in Russia’s election on Sunday, cementing his already tight grip on power.
The outcome means Putin, 71, is set to embark on a new six-year term that will see him overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia’s longest-serving leader for more than 200 years if he completes it.
Putin won 87.8% of the vote, the highest ever result in Russia’s post-Soviet history, according to an exit poll by pollster the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), news agency Reuters reported.
Communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov finished second with just under 4%, newcomer Vladislav Davankov third, and ultra-nationalist Leonid Slutsky fourth, partial results suggested.
Putin, in a victory speech in Moscow, told supporters that 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,” said Putin.
The election took place amid attacks within Russia by Ukrainian missiles and drones, which have killed several people.
Inspired by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison last month, thousands of opponents protested at noon against Putin at polling stations inside Russia and abroad.
Putin told reporters he regarded Russia’s election as democratic and said the Navalny-inspired protest against him had had no effect on the election’s outcome.
When asked by NBC, a US TV network, whether his re-election was democratic, Putin criticised the US political and judicial systems.
“The whole world is laughing at what is happening (in the United States),” he said. “This is just a disaster, not a democracy.”
“…Is it democratic to use administrative resources to attack one of the candidates for the presidency of the United States, using the judiciary among other things?” he asked, making an apparent reference to four criminal cases against Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Voting took place over three days at polling stations across Russia’s 11 time zones, in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine and online. While polls closed Sunday night in Russia, voting continued at some embassies around the world.
Despite tight controls, several dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations were reported across the voting period.
Several people were arrested, including in Moscow and St Petersburg, after they tried to start fires or set off explosives at polling stations, while others were detained for throwing green antiseptic or ink into ballot boxes.
The OVD-Info group that monitors political arrests said that 80 people were arrested in 20 cities across Russia on Sunday.
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