At the end of a vote calibrated to ensure him an undisputed victory, Russian President Vladimir Putin was re-elected on Sunday for a third consecutive term in the context of the most severe repression against the opposition and freedom of expression since the Soviet era.
While the outcome was never in doubt, Russians attempted to defy the inevitable, responding to the call to protest Putin’s repression in their country and his war in Ukraine, by showing up in the polling stations at noon on Sunday. But from the first results, it was clear that Putin would extend his rule by almost a quarter of a century with a fifth term.
After almost all polling stations were counted Monday, election officials said Vladimir Putin had received a record number of votes, an unsurprising development that underscores the total control of the country’s political system by the Russian leader.
When the first results came in, Vladimir Putin hailed them as an indication of “trust” and of “hope” in him, while his detractors saw it as confirmation of the pre-established nature of the election.
“Of course, many tasks await us. (…) No one has ever succeeded in scaring us, suppressing our will and our self-awareness. They have failed in the past and they will fail in the future” he said during a meeting with his campaign team after the polls closed.
Any public criticism of the Kremlin or its war in Ukraine has been suppressed. Independent media have been paralyzed. His fiercest political enemy, Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison last monthand other critics are either in prison or in exile.
Besides the fact that voters had virtually no choice, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited.
Russia’s Central Election Commission said Monday that with nearly 100% of polling stations counted, Vladimir Putin had received 87% of the vote. Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission, said almost 76 million voters had voted for Mr Putin, the highest score in its history.
European denunciations, congratulations from Kremlin allies
Western leaders denounced the election as a sham, while President Volodymyr Zelensky was particularly critical of the vote in Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Russia, saying that “everything Russia does in the occupied territory of Ukraine is a crime“.
Germany sharply criticized the vote, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokeswoman, Christina Hoffmann, saying that “in our opinion, it was not a democratic election“.
“There is no freedom of speech in Russia“, she told reporters in Berlin. “Russia, as the Chancellor has already said, is today a dictatorship and is ruled by Vladimir Putin in an authoritarian manner.”
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis also said the exercise did not deserve the name “election“.
“This is a procedure meant to resemble elections. (…) Some could talk about renewal, without any legitimacy.”
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were quick to congratulate Vladimir Putin, as were the leaders of Honduras and Venezuela, as well as presidents of countries formerly part of the USSR such as Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
“Noon against Putin“
In this tightly controlled environment, Alexei Navalny’s associates urged people unhappy with Vladimir Putin or the war to go to the polls at noon on Sunday – and queues outside a number of polling stations, both in Russia, from St. Petersburg to Siberia, as well as at its diplomatic missions around the world, seemed to swell at that hour.
Among those who answered the call, Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, spent more than five hours in line at the Russian embassy in Berlin. She told reporters she had put her late husband’s name on her ballot. “Please stop asking for messages from me or anyone for Mr. Putin. There can be no negotiations or anything with Putin, because he is a killer, a gangster“said Yulia Navalnaya.
A Moscow voter, who identified himself only as Vadim, said he hoped for change, but added that “unfortunately this is unlikely“. Like others, he did not give his full name for security reasons.
Meanwhile, supporters of Alexei Navalny flocked to his grave in Moscow, some bringing ballot papers bearing his name.
Vladimir Putin brushed off the effectiveness of the apparent protest and rejected Western criticism of the vote. He tried to turn the tables on the West by accusing the four criminal cases against US Republican candidate Donald Trump of using the justice system for political purposes and calling it “disaster“the denigration of democracy in the United States.”The whole world laughs“, did he declare.
ADVERTISEMENTDuring the press conference, Vladimir Putin mentioned the name of Alexei Navalny for the first time in yearsdeclaring that he was ready to release him in an exchange for unidentified detainees held by the West days before the opposition leader’s death.
Questioned by the Associated Press agency as they left the polling stations, some voters declared that they were happy to vote for Putin. These statements are not surprising in a country where state television constantly praises the Russian leader and where it is risky to express another opinion. Dmitry Sergienko, who voted in Moscow, said: “I’m happy with everything and I want everything to continue as before“.
Incidents during the three days of voting
Voting took place over three days at polling stations across the vast country, in Ukraine’s illegally annexed regions and online.
Several people were arrested, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg, after attempting to set fires or explosives at polling stations, while others were arrested for throwing green antiseptic or plastic. ink in the ballot boxes. Many other people were rounded up by police for attempting to demonstrate.
The OVD-Info group, which monitors political arrests, said around 90 people were arrested in 22 cities across Russia on Sunday.
ADVERTISEMENTStanislav Andreychuk, co-chairman of the independent election monitoring body Golos, said Russians were searched at the entrance to polling stations, there were attempts to check filled-in ballots before before they were cast, and a report indicates that police demanded that a ballot box be opened to remove a ballot.
Citizens therefore had little opportunity to express themselves. Nonetheless, huge queues formed around midday outside diplomatic missions in London, Berlin, Paris and other cities with large Russian communities, many of whom left their countries after the invasion. Ukraine by Vladimir Putin.
“If we have the opportunity to protest, I think it is important to use every opportunity” said Tatiana, 23, who was voting in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, and said she had come to take part in the protest.
