Vladimir Putin. He cruised to victory in Russia's presidential election
on March 19,2018, giving him at least another six years in power. AFP
PHOTO | ALEXEY DRUZHININ
Vladimir Putin cruised to victory in Russia's presidential
election on Sunday, giving him at least another six years in power as
Moscow's relations with the West become increasingly strained.
Putin,
who has ruled Russia for almost two decades, recorded his best ever
election performance with more than 76 per cent of the vote, but the
opposition cried foul.
Monitors reported ballot
stuffing and other cases of alleged fraud as the Kremlin pushed for a
high turnout to give greater legitimacy to Putin's historic fourth term.
The
Russian strongman ran against seven other candidates, but his most
vocal critic Alexei Navalny was barred from the ballot for legal reasons
and the final outcome was never in doubt.
"I see in
this (result) the confidence and hope of our people," Putin said in an
address to a crowd of supporters on a square next to the Kremlin after
exit polls put him on track for a resounding victory.
"Our
thoughts will turn to the future of our great country and the future of
our children," said the man who is already Russia's longest-serving
leader since Stalin.
Election
About 107 million
Russians were eligible to cast ballots and in its latest update on
participation, three hours before polls closed in Moscow, the central
election commission said turnout was at 60 per cent.
Authorities used both the carrot and the stick to boost engagement in the polls.
Selfie
competitions, giveaways, food festivals and children's entertainers
were laid on at polling stations in a bid to create a festive atmosphere
around the election.
But employees of state and
private companies reported coming under pressure to vote, while students
were threatened with problems in their exams or even expulsion if they
did not take part, according to the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper.
According
to central election commission data with 90 per cent of ballots
counted, Putin took 76.4 per cent of the vote, well ahead of his nearest
competitor Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin who was on 12 per
cent.
Ultra-nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky
took around 6 per cent, former reality TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak was
on 1.5 per cent and other candidates were on less than a single
percentage point each.
The election was held as Russia
faces increasing isolation on the world stage over a spy poisoning in
Britain and a fresh round of US sanctions just as it gears up for the
football World Cup in the summer.
'Unprecedented violations'
Navalny
— who called on his supporters to boycott the "fake" vote and sent more
than 33,000 observers across the country to see how official turnout
figures differed from those of monitors — said there had been
"unprecedented violations".
His lawyer Ivan Zhdanov
said the actual national turnout at 1700 GMT, when polls closed in
Moscow, was 55 per cent, according to data collected by monitors.
Navalny's
opposition movement and the non-governmental election monitor Golos
reported ballot stuffing, repeat voting and Putin supporters being
bussed into polling stations en masse.
One election
commission worker in the republic of Dagestan, which traditionally
registers extremely high official turnout figures, told AFP around 50
men entered the station where he was working and physically assaulted an
observer before stuffing a ballot box.
But the electoral commission dismissed most concerns, saying monitors sometimes misinterpret what they see.
Runner-up Grudinin said the elections had been "dishonest" in comments carried by news agencies following early results.
Putin 'a hero'
Among
the first world leaders to congratulate Putin was Chinese President Xi
Jinping, who has just been handed a second term himself and has gained a
path to indefinite rule after presidential term limits were lifted last
week.
"China is willing to work with Russia to keep
promoting China-Russia relations to a higher level, provide driving
force for respective national development in both countries, and promote
regional and global peace and tranquility," Xi said in his message.
Since
first being elected president in 2000, Putin has stamped his total
authority on the world's biggest country, muzzling opposition, putting
television under state control and reasserting Moscow's standing abroad.
The 65-year-old former KGB officer used an otherwise lacklustre presidential campaign to emphasise Russia's role as a major world power, boasting of its "invincible" new nuclear weapons in a pre-election speech.
The 65-year-old former KGB officer used an otherwise lacklustre presidential campaign to emphasise Russia's role as a major world power, boasting of its "invincible" new nuclear weapons in a pre-election speech.
Most people who spoke to AFP on Sunday said
they voted for Putin, praising him for restoring stability and national
pride after the humiliating collapse of the Soviet Union.
"Of course I'm for Putin, he's a leader," said Olga Matyunina, a 65-year-old retired economist.
"After he brought Crimea back, he became a hero to me."
Sunday
marked four years since Putin signed a treaty declaring Crimea to be
part of Russia in a move that triggered a pro-Kremlin insurgency in east
Ukraine, a conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.
Voting in space
Ahead
of the vote, a new crisis broke out with the West as Britain implicated
Putin in the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal with a
Soviet-designed nerve agent.
In response, London
expelled 23 Russian diplomats, prompting a tit-for-tat move by Moscow.
Also this week, Washington hit Russia with sanctions for trying to
influence the 2016 US election.
After his victory,
Putin dismissed claims Russia was behind the poisoning in Britain as
"drivel, rubbish, nonsense" but said Moscow was ready to cooperate with
London in the probe.
Putin's previous Kremlin term was
marked by a crackdown on the opposition after huge protests, the Ukraine
conflict, military intervention in Syria and the introduction of
Western sanctions that contributed to a fall in living standards.
The
president has said he will use his fourth term to address a litany of
domestic problems including widespread poverty and poor healthcare.
Election
officials flew to far-flung regions to collect votes from indigenous
herders, while cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov — the only Russian currently
aboard the International Space Station — cast his ballot by
proxy.Vladimir Putin.
No comments :
Post a Comment