Vladimir Putin has won the presidential election with 87.97% of the vote, according to the first official results showed yesterday after polls closed.
Putin tightened his grip on power, claiming another six-year term as Russian president after a brutally distorted election in which all serious challengers were wiped out before voting began.
With 30 percent of ballots counted, Putin’s tally stood at 87.68% of the vote, election officials announced.
Putin’s victory was never in doubt. But this is the biggest share of the vote he has claimed in any of his five presidential election wins since his first in 2000. An official celebration is scheduled for today.
The result more than met the objective of an overwhelming victory to buttress Putin’s claim that Russians wholeheartedly back their leader and his invasion of Ukraine. With the winner already known ahead of time, the three-day vote was an exercise in pro-Putin mobilization and a test of loyalty for Russia’s state apparatus.
The election campaign, which saw three other candidates refrain from criticizing the president, was overshadowed by the death last month of Putin’s key opponent, Alexei Navalny.
Even with Navalny out of the way, Putin was taking no chances. On the first two days of voting, thousands of public sector employees, students, and workers from Russian corporations were compelled to cast their ballots.
Turnout was monitored by management civil service employees were required to report back once they had voted. In some regions, they were even expected to bring relatives and share their geolocations with supervisors via a specially designed app.
But the intended image of unanimity was marred by dozens of acts of resistance. In about 20 Russian regions, individuals either set voting booths ablaze or poured paint into the ballot boxes.
Authorities assert that the assailants many of whom were elderly women were acting on instructions from abroad. All involved now face the prospect of being sentenced to up to five years in prison.
Authorities assert that the assailants many of whom were elderly women were acting on instructions from abroad. All involved now face the prospect of being sentenced to up to five years in prison.
-Thenation
