At the end of a campaign calibrated to ensure him an undisputed victory, Vladimir Putin was re-elected on Sunday for a third consecutive term as President of the Russian Federation.
Early Monday morning during a brief speech, Vladimir Putin, 71, congratulated himself on his victory which was beyond doubt.
Russia’s Central Election Commission later said that after almost 100 percent of all constituencies were counted, the Russian president received 87.29 percent of the vote. The head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, said that pnearly 76 million voters (out of 112 million registered) voted for Putin, i.e. his highest number of votes ever recorded.
The expected winner faced three symbolic challengers who obtained a total of only 11% of the votes. Other potential opponents were not allowed to run, either because their candidacy was rejected or because they were in exile, in prison or in the cemetery.
Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chairman of Golos’ independent election monitoring body, said that the pressure exerted on voters by law enforcement had reached unprecedented levels.
According to the official Russian agency TASS, the participation rate in the Russian presidential election would reach 73.33%.
After thanking Russian voters on Sunday evening, Vladimir Putin assured that protest actions called by the opposition had no impact on the presidential electionwhile threatening prosecution against those who spoiled ballots. “This is a criminal offense and our law enforcement and judicial authorities will act in accordance with the law”warned Mr. Putin. “In reality, it had no effect.”
Unusually, Vladimir Putin referred to Alexei Navalny for the first time in years during his press conference. He said he was informed of a plan to release the opposition leader from prison days before his death. V. Putin said he accepted the idea, on the condition that Navalny does not return to Russia.
As for his new mandate, Vladimir Putin said he“many concrete and important tasks to accomplish. The election results demonstrate the confidence of the country’s citizens and their hope that we will do everything planned.” said the president in a televised speech overnight from Sunday to Monday.
After a new wave of Ukrainian drone attacks during the night from Saturday to Sunday, Vladimir Putin also recalled that his country would not allow itself to be “intimidated” or “crushed”after two years of conflict in Ukraine and crisis with the West.
“It doesn’t matter who wants to intimidate us or how much, it doesn’t matter who wants to crush us or how much, our will or our conscience. No one has ever succeeded in doing anything like this in history. This has not worked today and will not work in the future”, hammered the Russian warlord.
Congratulations and criticism
Vladimir Putin’s victory was notably denounced by the opposition in exile. The team of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, who died in prison, denounced on Sunday the score obtained by Vladimir Putin who “no connection with reality” wrote on
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the presidents of Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela quickly congratulated Vladimir Putin for his victory, as did the leaders of the ex-Soviet Central Asian countries of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, while the West described the vote as a sham.
Also abroad, British Foreign Minister David Cameron criticized X, “illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory” but also “the lack of choice for voters and the absence of independent monitoring by the OSCE. This is not what free and fair elections look like.”
On Monday, France for its part deplored that “the conditions for a free, pluralist and democratic election” have not been “a new time” gathered in Russia, after the re-election on Sunday of President Vladimir Putin
The Ukrainian president said that Vladimir Putin was “drunk with power” and that he wanted to “reign forever”. In a message on social networks, Volodymyr Zelensky believes that the Russian presidential election had not “no legitimacy”.
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also judged that this election was not “not legal” and that she had not been “free and fair.”