This was announced by the returning officer Ella Pamfilova on Sunday evening after almost a quarter of the ballot papers had been counted. This means that the 71-year-old Putin gained more than ten percentage points compared to the 2018 election. Putin himself thanked his compatriots in his first reaction.
“We are a united team, all Russian citizens who came to the polling stations and voted,” Putin said in a speech to his campaign team that was broadcast on state television. The election results showed Russians’ “confidence” in his leadership. At the same time, he emphasized that he wanted to do everything in his power to fulfill the tasks set for the leadership, as the state agency Tass further reported.
Putin: “Consolidate society”
Russia can now become stronger and more efficient. Putin assured that he would “consolidate” society and then no one would oppress Russia anymore. He is sure that all goals will be achieved. Referring to developments in Ukraine, Putin said Russian armed forces are making progress every day. Nevertheless, the army must be strengthened.
The result is considered the best ever awarded to Putin. Voter turnout was also a record at over 74 percent. It was the highest number in a Russian presidential election. However, critics pointed out that it was only achieved through repression, coercion and fraud. The first meaningful results should be available this Monday. As a rule, the forecasts agree with the result announced at the end.
Observers classify the election as undemocratic
Observers described the vote, which was accompanied by protests, as undemocratic because no real opposition candidates were allowed. In addition, there is no freedom of assembly in Russia; the Kremlin-controlled media is in line. Independent media are politically persecuted. Dissenters who criticize Putin’s war against Ukraine or the power apparatus risk punishment and even imprisonment.
Not only were Putin’s three competitors all aligned with the Kremlin, but they were also considered to have no chance at all from the start. After the polls closed, according to the first results, less than four percent of the vote was awarded to the communist Nikolai Kharitonov; Vladislav Davankov from the liberal New People party was also below four percent; the ultranationalist Leonid Slutsky achieved around three percent.
114 million eligible voters
114 million people were called to vote, including those in the occupied territories in Ukraine. Putin, now 71, has been in power since 1999, including a term as prime minister. After a constitutional change confirmed in 2020, Putin could run again in 2030 for another six years. He has the country firmly under control two years after the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Putin is likely to present the result as confirmation of his anti-Western and authoritarian course. Observers expect that over the next six years in office he will not only step up his foreign policy significantly in his war of aggression against Ukraine. Many Russians fear a new mobilization of hundreds of thousands of reservists.
Domestically, the thumbscrews in the country could also be tightened significantly in order to stifle the protests from Putin’s opponents that were visible on the three election days. Tax increases have also been announced to finance the high expenditure on the war and social policy projects.
The vote, which was scheduled to last three days, was also overshadowed by Putin’s war against Ukraine, which he repeatedly portrays as a fight against NATO and the West’s alleged desire for supremacy. This caught the attention of many Russians.
The Kremlin chief, who has now been elected for another six years, is likely to use the result as a clear incentive to wrest even more territory from Ukraine. Putin has announced that he will completely take over the previously partially occupied Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. Odessa in the south is also threatened with a Russian occupation attempt.
Election “illegal and meaningless”
In the occupied parts and on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, people also voted in the election, which Putin opponents criticized as a farce. Ukraine and other countries reject the vote, which was organized in violation of international law, as illegal and meaningless. The Foreign Ministry in Kiev called on the international community not to recognize the results.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied Putin “any legitimacy.” “This election fraud has no legitimacy and cannot have any,” said Zelensky in his evening video address broadcast in Kiev. “This figure (Putin) must end up in the dock in The Hague – we must ensure that, everyone in the world who values life and decency.” There is an arrest warrant issued by the World Criminal Court in The Hague against Putin because of allegations of war crimes in Ukraine.
“The percentages invented for Putin clearly have nothing to do with reality,” said well-known Navalny confidant Leonid Volkov in a reaction on the Telegram online service. Volkov was one of Navalny’s closest confidants and, among other things, former chief of staff.
Systematic fraud?
Independent observers pointed to systematic fraud behind this high value for Putin. Since the first day of voting on Friday, a large number of cases have been documented in which employees of state-owned companies were pressured to vote and in some cases even had to take photos as evidence of their completed voting slip. Critics also complained that the online process in particular was easy to manipulate. Observers also documented the mass stuffing of pre-filled ballot papers into the ballot boxes.
In addition to an even more brutal approach to the attack on Ukraine, experts expect that repression in Russia will increase. There is already no freedom of assembly or free reporting by the media; dissidents face imprisonment if they criticize the war or the power apparatus. Above all, the opposition has been eliminated because leading figures are in prison camps or have fled into exile abroad. Hopes for political change in Russia were recently dashed after the death of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny.
Lack of freedom and conformity of the media
This lack of freedom in Russia and the synchronization of the media controlled by the Kremlin are seen as the most important basis for Putin to defend his power. However, political scientist Tatjana Stanovaya expects increasing problems for the Kremlin to keep a firm grip on the reins of power. Putin’s positions are unbalanced, the goals of the war are unclear; and there are noticeable interventions in private life, wrote Stanovaja in an analysis for the Carnegie think tank. “All of this will inevitably create pressure on the regime from within,” she said. “This does not mean that the regime will collapse or that there will be mass protests.” But the influence of the elites will grow and Putin’s importance will decrease.
Thousands of opponents of the long-time president accompanied the vote, which was organized with a heavy hand by Russia’s power apparatus, with a remarkable wave of protests. Despite attempts at intimidation by the authorities, on the last day of the election on Sunday in many cities across the country across eleven time zones, people gathered in front of their respective polling stations around 12 noon local time for the “Lunch against Putin” campaign, which brought together the opposition around Navalny, who died in a prison camp a month ago had called.
Flowers at Navalny’s grave
On Sunday, people also brought flowers to the Moscow grave of Navalny, who himself wanted to become president. Navalny’s widow caused a stir in Berlin: Julia Navalnaya took part in a protest there.
This silent form of resistance should allow Kremlin and war opponents in Russia to express their discontent in a safe way. Civil rights activists nevertheless reported dozens of arrests. Numerous people also took part in the actions in many other Russian cities and internationally. In Vienna, too, numerous people gathered for a largely silent protest in front of the Russian embassy.
Meanwhile, on this final day of voting it became clear once again that in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, not everything is going according to plan as the Kremlin likes to claim. In southern Russia, a drone attack caused a fire at an oil refinery. As in previous days, the western Russian border region of Belgorod was bombarded with rockets. According to official information, a 16-year-old teenager died.
