Russian President Vladimir Putin will remain in the Kremlin until 2030 after achieving on Sunday his biggest electoral victory since he came to power, a mandate that will allow him to continue the military campaign in Ukraine and his current fight with the West.
Putin, 71, received 87.2% of the votes, ten points more than in 2018 (76.5), during the three days of voting in the eighth presidential election in Russian history since 1991.
The results of the elections were not affected by the death in prison of the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny , for which his co-religionists blame the Kremlin, nor by the Ukrainian border incursions in recent days.
The opposition to the Kremlin could not participate in the elections
The second most voted candidate was the communist Nikolai Kharitonov with 4% of the votes, followed by the representative of the New People party, Vladislav Davankov, with 3.86%. The last candidate is the ultranationalist Leonid Slutski, who accounts for 3% of the ballots.
High turnout in elections in Russia
More than 98 million Russians, out of a total of 112 million who were called to the polls, voted in favor of the re-election for a fifth term of the current president, who came to the Kremlin in 1999 after receiving power from the hands of Boris Yeltsin.
Participation with three hours left before the closing of the schools exceeded 74%, which is expected to mark a historical maximum since the first direct presidential elections in 1991.
In the country’s two main cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, more than two-thirds of the electorate voted and Putin received between 80% and 90% of the votes.
Meanwhile, in the occupied areas in Ukraine between 88% and 95% of voters opted for the current tenant of the Kremlin with a turnout also above 80%, despite the intense fighting.
In Crimea, which celebrates ten years since Russian annexation on Monday , 81% of those registered voted, of which more than 90% supported Putin. Even in Moscow prisons Putin achieved more than 82% of the votes.
The opposition suspects that the authorities forced public sector employees, the president’s electoral breadbasket, to vote – under penalty of loss of employment – after more than half of the census already voted in the first two days.
In addition, millions of Russians voted electronically, either from home or at terminals in schools, which the opposition considers an instrument of fraud.
Putin voted remotely on Friday
This Friday, the first day of the three days of elections in which the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin , aspires to his fifth term, voted remotely from his country residence in Novo-Ogariovo, located on the outskirts of Moscow.
Three candidates recognize Putin’s victory in Russia
The communist candidate for the Russian presidency, Nikolai Kharitonov, the representative of New People, Vladislav Davankov, and the ultranationalist Leonid Slutsky recognized this Sunday the victory of the current head of the Kremlin with nearly 88% of the votes, in the absence of final results. .
“The people (of Russia) demonstrated like never before to the international community that they can unite and consolidate,” Kharitonov said at a press conference after knowing the first results of the presidential elections, which give him second place after Putin with just over 4% of support.
Also the representative of Gente Nueva, Vladislav Davankov, for whom 4% of Russians voted, recognized the “undoubted” victory of the current Russian leader, who will be able to remain in the Kremlin until at least 2030.
In fourth place after nearly 52% of the votes counted is now the ultranationalist Leonid Slutski, who totals 3.12% of the ballots.
Slutski also recognized Putin’s victory today and described his result as “historic.”
BY: TTU
