2024-03-18 00:00:00
Vladimir Putin, 71, in power for almost a quarter of a century, was largely and unsurprisingly re-elected as president of Russia, according to the first official results.
Despite the symbolic demonstrations of a few thousand opponents at midday in front of certain polling stations, the Russian president was re-elected with more than 87% of the votes, according to a poll carried out at the exit of the polling stations by the Russian Center for Research on public opinion (VCIOM).
Vladimir Putin thus obtains a new six-year mandate and should ultimately surpass Joseph Stalin in longevity in the Kremlin.
Open in full screen mode
The outgoing president faced three candidates without stature, who opposed neither the offensive in Ukraine nor the Kremlin.
Photo : Getty Images / Agence France-Presse
In a speech broadcast on state television, Putin spoke and said that his re-election proves that Russia has chosen the right path, that it will consolidate Russian society and that his country will thus be stronger and more efficient. He also thanked the soldiers fighting in Ukraine and promised to achieve all his goals after his re-election.
The Russian president also assured that the death in prison of his main detractor, Alexeï Navalny, was a sad event, thus pronouncing the name of this opponent in public, an extremely rare occurrence.
As for Mr. Navalny, he is dead. Yes, he died, it’s always a sad event, but we have had other cases where people in prison died, Mr. Putin said.
He also claimed that he had accepted the principle of an exchange involving Alexei Navalny before his death in custody. The main condition for carrying out this exchange between Mr. Navalny and Russians imprisoned in Western countries would have been that the opponent never returns to Russia, he said.
Open in full screen mode
Vladimir Putin spoke after the closing of polling stations in Moscow on March 18, 2024.
Photo : Reuters / Maxim Shemetov
What’s more, he assured that the protest actions called by the opposition had no effect on the presidential election, while threatening prosecution for those who spoiled ballot papers.
Turnout was officially estimated at 74.22% when polling stations closed, a rate higher than the 67.5% in the previous election in 2018.
Voting took place over three days at polling stations across 11 time zones in the world’s largest country. Voting began on Friday at 8 a.m. (local time) on the Kamchatka Peninsula and in Chukotka, two remote regions of the Russian Far East, and ended on Sunday at 8 p.m. in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave bordering the ‘European Union.
Open in full screen mode
Members of a local election commission empty a ballot box at a polling station after the last of three days of the Russian presidential election, in Moscow, March 17, 2024.
It also took place in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine, online and in some embassies around the world.
Despite strict controls, several dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations were reported during the election period.
Noon against Putin
The outcome of the vote was in little doubt in the absence of a credible rival among the three other candidates in the running, especially since the main opponent of the Russian president, Alexeï Navalny, died in detention last month.
Open in full screen mode
An electoral premises in Sergiev Posad, north of Moscow.
Supporters of Alexeï Navalny had called the Russians to a noon against Putin by all going to the polling stations in the middle of the day.
Yulia Navalnaïa, his widow, took part in a demonstration in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin, Germany, where she voted.
I wrote [sur le bulletin de vote] the name “Navalny” because it is not possible […] that a month before the elections, Putin’s main opponent, already imprisoned, was killed, she explained to the press after voting.
Explanations from our special correspondent in Germany, Marie-Eve Bédard.
It was impossible to independently estimate the scale of participation in the protest, as tens of thousands of police and law enforcement officers exercised strict control over the voting process.
Shortly after the counting of the first polling stations, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed Vladimir Putin’s resounding victory on Sunday.
Dmitri Medvedev is now number 2 on the Russian Security Council. He held the presidency from 2008 to 2012, with Putin as prime minister, as the latter was affected by term limits.
Open in full screen mode
Dmitry Medvedev, former President of Russia and Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, votes during the Russian presidential election in Moscow region, March 15, 2024.
Russia has made its choice, welcomed the head of the Electoral Commission, Ella Pamfilova. State television, for its part, highlighted the colossal support enjoyed by the master of the Kremlin.
For its part, Alexeï Navalny’s team denounced the score on Sunday, a few minutes after the announcement of the counting of votes from a quarter of the polling stations.
The percentages invented for Putin obviously have no relation to reality. It’s not worth talking about it, reacted on Twitter Leonid Volkov, former right-hand man in exile of the deceased.
Open in full screen mode
Leonid Volkov, during a press conference on August 21 in Berlin, Germany, where he accompanied Alexeï Navalny after his poisoning.
Photo: The Canadian Press / AP/Michael Sohn
Independent Russian media published images of invalid ballot papers distributed by voters, with Killer and Thief written on one and Waiting for you in The Hague on the other, in reference to a presidential mandate. judgment issued against Putin for war crimes charges linked to his alleged responsibility for the kidnappings of children in Ukraine.
Still, some people told The Associated Press they were happy to vote for Putin. Dmitry Sergienko, who voted in Moscow, said: I am happy with everything and I want everything to continue as it is now.
Zelensky denounces a sham
This election took place against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, ordered in February 2022 by Vladimir Putin with the launch of a special military operation in this country.
In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky was quick to react to the initial results which declared Putin the clear winner. These days, the Russian dictator is still faking an election. It is obvious to everyone in the world that this character, as has often happened throughout history, is drunk with power and is doing everything to rule eternally, he wrote on the social network X.
Start of the Twitter widget. Skip widget ?End of Twitter widget. Return to start of widget?
Ukraine’s Western allies also denounced elections that were neither free nor fair.
The White House National Security Council spokesperson argued that Putin had imprisoned his political opponents and prevented others from running against him, while the German Foreign Ministry claimed that Putin’s regime is authoritarian [et qu’]it is based on censorship, repression and violence.
In a message broadcast on the X network, the head of British diplomacy, David Cameron, denounced the illegal organization of elections on Ukrainian territory, the lack of choice for voters and the lack of control independent of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Open in full screen mode
A man votes in the Russian presidential election at a polling station in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, March 16, 2024.
77 arrests in Russia
Overall, the mobilization of the opposition took place calmly, but the NGO OVD-Info, specialized in monitoring repression, reported at least 77 arrests in Russia for various forms of electoral protest actions.
The spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, for her part, affirmed that the voters who gathered en masse at Russian embassies, such as in Paris, London and Berlin, were not supporters of the opposition.
They came to vote, seizing the opportunity that their country, Russia, offered them despite all the threats from the West, Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
With information from Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Associated Press
1710720724
#Elections #Russia #Vladimir #Putin #largely #reelected #president #War #Ukraine