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Putin Set For Election Coronation In Vote With No Opposition
This weekend's election is expected to give Vladimir Putin a sixth term as president of Russia, a development the Kremlin claims will demonstrate public support for his invasion of Ukraine.
Ever since taking office as president or prime minister on December 31, 1999, Putin has suppressed any kind of dissent or opposition and maintained a level of domestic control that leaves no room for doubt.
If he wins the competition scheduled for March 15–17, he will be able to remain in the Kremlin until at least 2030—longer than any other Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the eighteenth century.
The survey is conducted at a moment when the ex-KGB agent is feeling very confident.
The Russian forces in Ukraine have achieved their first successes on the battlefield in several months.
Furthermore, last month, Alexei Navalny, Putin's most vocal opponent, passed away in an Arctic prison colony.
Despite the fact that Putin is despised as a pariah in the West, the Kremlin claims the vote will demonstrate that Russians at home support him and his offensive.
Last year, Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesperson, stated, "He has no rivals at the moment and cannot have any."
He declared, "Really, no one can compete with him."
"Significant elections"
The election process is important to the Kremlin, even with its ceremonial overtones.
Moscow has devoted substantial resources to a campaign aimed at igniting support for Putin.
Enhancing his image as a tough guy, the president has travelled the nation and been captured on camera operating a supersonic nuclear bomber.
Chatham House fellow Nikolai Petrov told AFP, "The Kremlin is very interested in these elections."
During the military campaign, he claimed, "it is necessary to demonstrate that Russians overwhelmingly support Putin."
Putin's goal is to win more support from the Kremlin than he did in his four prior election victories.
Official 2018 results showed that he received 77.5 percent of the vote.
There was no actual competition, but the contest was tainted by numerous allegations of fraud, forced voting, and ballot stuffing.
Putin will formally face three other candidates this year, all of whom are Kremlin-approved front-runners intended to create the appearance of competition.
After receiving support from tens of thousands of Russians for his unexpected bid to run on a platform of peace, anti-Putin politician Boris Nadezhdin was disqualified from running.
Without a doubt
In the past, the Kremlin permitted a liberal contender to compete in what observers once referred to as Russia's "managed democracy."
These days, "autocracy" or "totalitarianism" is the phrase they employ.
There will also be voting in the Crimean peninsula, which was taken in 2014, and the four areas of Ukraine that Moscow asserts it has annexed in 2022.
Petrov stated that Moscow is no longer concerned about trying to portray the vote to the West or even Russian society as a valid democratic exercise.
"What matters most is that political elites should be completely convinced that Putin has the backing of the majority of Russians," he stated.
In less than a year following the failed uprising led by mercenary commander Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin will aim to demonstrate possible rivals and successors that Putin is secure on his throne.
From exile and behind bars, Russia’s remaining opposition figures still hope they can spoil the procession.
They want anti-Putin Russians to form huge queues outside polling stations on the final day of voting.
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, says the show of dissent could spook Putin.
The Kremlin appears unfazed.
“We will hold the kind of elections that our people need,” Peskov said earlier this month, dismissing those who describe the vote as neither free nor fair.
“We won’t tolerate any criticism of our democracy. Our democracy is the best.”