March 15-17 days of fake votings
Four candidates were vying for the top office of Russia, namely New People party nominee Vladislav Davankov; self-nominated candidate and incumbent President Vladimir Putin; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) nominee Leonid Slutsky; and Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) nominee Nikolay Kharitonov, who came in second place.
Because Russia’s dictatorial leader eliminates all opponents and rules with the choke of fear, few dare raise their voice against this leader who wants to expand his power more and more.
On Sunday March 17, in an election in which he faced no competition, and was provided with hardcore pro-Kremlin propaganda, complete control of the central election committee, and a well-oiled vote-rigging machine, Vladimir Putin made sure nothing could go wrong.
It was remarkable that here in the West we were shown footage of hundreds of people coming to polling stations at noon to express their displeasure, but then allegedly more than 80 per cent still voted for Putin.
Exit poll results released shortly after voting closed on Sunday evening showed that Putin had won 88 per cent of the vote on a turnout of 73.3 per cent, the highest in history. Putin’s previous highest result came in 2018, when he purported to earn 76.7% of the vote with a 67.5% turnout. In occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donbas region, he reportedly scored 95 per cent of the vote.
Speaking at the headquarters of United Russia, his political party, Putin praised Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine and said that his election win represented the
“the unified will of the Russian people”.
Putin was also not shy in claiming that the population would be one team fully behind him.
Regarding recently deceased rival Alexei Navalny, he assured people that he is not the only one to die in a prison.
“We have had other cases where people died in prison. Doesn’t that ever happen in the USA?”
Alexei Navalny’s widow had called on Russians to flock to polling stations on the day of the general election to protest against Vladimir Putin. And it looked like many replied to that request.
“We need to use the election day to show that there are many of us, that we are real, different people who oppose Putin,”
she had said as she dismissed the vote as an
“utter forgery and fakery”.
Even though perhaps many Russians may know that that election is just a farce many still did not dare to destroy the ballot paper at the polling station or simply cross it off.
Telegram, the social messaging channel, showed photographs of dozens of ballot papers defaced by protesters, who had scrawled pro-Ukraine and anti-war slogans on them. “Don’t steal my voice, don’t steal our future,” said one spoiled paper.
The 88 per cent win was a record for Putin.
Analysts said the Kremlin used its vote manipulation machine to force up the vote in one of its biggest propaganda projects.
Genuine opponents who were still walking around, were all either jailed or disqualified, pressure was applied to state workers to vote for Putin and electronic voting numbers were fiddled.
Russia’s Central Election Commission had ruled that about 9.000 of the 100.000 supporting signatures Boris Nadezhdin submitted to get on the ballot were not legitimate and breached its rules. It also refused to allow Mr Nadezhdin and his supporters another month to collect more signatures.
In recent months, for instance, we have witnessed Putin silencing every dissenting voice. From his family history, it is clear how he has gelled lessons on how he will be able to warm it as a second Stalin.
Russians are banned from protesting directly against the war, but on several occasions there were brave Russians whodared to queue up across the country in their hundreds in freezing conditions to sign their support for Mr Nadezhdin, though any form of anti-Kremlin activity is considered dangerous in Russia.
Also former Russian television journalist Yekaterina Duntsova got disqualified from running as candidate. She was ready to “present an alternative” to Mr Putin and his policies but had her campaign for a
“humane Russia that’s peaceful, friendly and ready to cooperate with everyone on the principle of respect”
also silenced.
According to Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Moscow’s Western opponents actively tried over the past year to disrupt the Russian presidential election, and the very probable confirmation of Vladimir Putin as president.
“Our opponents stirred up not just a week or a month ago. It seems to me that over the past year they did everything to either disrupt the presidential election or prevent it from being held or distort the conception of the elections in different ways,”
the diplomat said. According to Maria Zakharov
The unity of Russian citizens amidst the country’s presidential election causes the West’s fury.
But we are not so much outraged as disappointed that the leader of such a powerful country cannot be satisfied with that over which he is allowed to rule and that he uses the youth of his country as cannon fodder, not caring how many grieving families he leaves behind.
The elections were quickly criticised by western countries. The US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said:
“The elections are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him.”
The German foreign ministry wrote in a post on X that the
“pseudo-election in #Russia is neither free nor fair, the result will surprise nobody. Putin’s rule is authoritarian, he relies on censorship, repression & violence. The ‘election’ in the occupied territories of #Ukraine is null and void & another breach of international law.”
Ella Pamfilova, Russia’s election commissioner, said those who spoiled ballots were “bastards”, and the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said those responsible could face treason sentences of 20 years. Russia’s interior ministry said it had filed 155 administrative charges and opened 61 criminal cases during the elections, including 21 cases of obstructing voters’ rights.
Stanislav Andreychuk, a co-chair of the Golos independent election watchdog, said the pressure on voters from law enforcement had reached absurd levels.
“It’s the first time in my life that I’ve seen such absurdities and I’ve been observing elections for 20 years,”
Andreychuk wrote on Telegram, referring to the actions of police who he said were checking ballots before they were cast.
Putin’s victory will surely not mean good times ahead for the country. Some Russians worry that the ruble, which has been propped up by the government after plunging last year, might be allowed to depreciate again, raising the cost of imports. Businesspeople worry about higher taxes, and opposition activists expect more crackdowns on dissent.
The war was front and centre in Putin his victory speech, as he claimed he was securing the border from recent raids by pro-Ukrainian military units and said that his main tasks as president would be the war in Ukraine
“strengthening defence capacity and the military”.
Asked about the potential for a direct conflict with Nato, he said:
“I think that everything is possible in the modern world … everyone understands that this would be one step from a full-scale third world war. I don’t think that anyone is interested in that.”
For us, it remains a scared wait and see. Looking forward to what else this dangerous man will pull out of his sleeve and how in America that other clown will or will not be re-elected by a large part of Americans who do not think beyond their nose.
If Trump were to get into play with Putin, things will only get really dangerous for the world.
Worldviewer 