Associated Press – Voters headed to polling stations in Russia Friday for a three-day presidential election. The presidential election almost guarantees another six years of President Vladimir Putin’s reign, which has suppressed dissent.
The election takes place against the backdrop of a ruthless crackdown that has crippled independent media and prominent rights groups and given President Putin complete control of the political system.
It also coincided with Moscow’s war in Ukraine entering its third year. Russia has the advantage on the battlefield and is slowly making small gains. Meanwhile, Ukraine is making Moscow look vulnerable behind the front lines. High-tech drones are putting the Black Sea Fleet on the defensive as long-range drone strikes strike deep inside Russia.
Voters are casting their votes from Friday to Sunday at polling stations in 11 time zones across the vast country, as well as in illegally annexed territories of Ukraine. Russians can also vote online, the first time this option has been used in a presidential election. Officials said more than 200,000 people cast their votes online in Moscow shortly after voting opened.
There is little suspense in this election, as Putin, 71, is running virtually unopposed for a fifth term. His political opponents are either in prison or in exile abroad, and the most fierce of them, Alexei Navalny, died last month in a remote penal colony in the Arctic Circle. His three other candidates on the ballot are low-profile politicians from nominal opposition parties who toe the Kremlin line.
Top Shot – Local election commission members and military personnel prepare a mobile polling station during early voting for the Russian presidential election in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on March 14, 2024, amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. . (Photo by STRINGER/AFP) (Photo: STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)
Top Shot – A woman poses after voting at a mobile polling station during early voting for the Russian presidential election in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on March 14, 2024, amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. (Photo by STRINGER/AFP) (Photo by STRINGER/AFP, via Getty Images)
DONETSK, UKRAINE – MARCH 13: People vote at mobile polling stations during early voting for the Russian presidential election in the Russian-controlled region of Donetsk region, Ukraine, on March 13, 2024, during the Russo-Ukrainian war. people. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu, via Getty Images)
Observers have little hope that the elections will be free and fair. Besides the fact that voters have few choices, the possibilities for independent monitoring are very limited.
Only registered candidates or state-backed advisory bodies can assign observers to polling stations, making it unlikely that an independent monitoring body will be set up. Voting takes place over three days at approximately 100,000 polling stations across the country, making true monitoring difficult in any case.
“The entire Russian election is a sham. The Kremlin controls who takes part in the voting. The Kremlin controls how the election campaign is conducted. Not to mention that it can control every aspect of the voting and vote counting process. ” said Sam Green, director of democratic resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington.
Ukraine and Western countries also condemned Russia for voting in areas of Ukraine occupied and occupied by Russian forces.
Political analysts and opposition figures say Ukraine is in many ways central to this election. They argue that President Putin wants to use his almost certain election victory as evidence that the war and its response are widely supported. Meanwhile, the opposition hopes to use the vote to express dissatisfaction with both the war and the Kremlin.
Abbas, the political analyst, said the Kremlin had lost interest in voters by banishing two politicians from the ballot who had tried to run on an anti-war agenda and had real, if not overwhelming, support. He said he had been deprived of a choice on “key issues on Russia’s political agenda.” Mr. Galliamov worked as a speechwriter for President Putin.
Russia’s dispersed opposition is calling on those dissatisfied with President Vladimir Putin and the war to come to polling stations at noon on Sunday, the last day of voting, to protest. This strategy was endorsed by Navalny shortly before his death.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – MARCH 14: (Outing in Russia) takes a photo next to a full-length cardboard cutout of President Vladimir Putin in a souvenir shop ahead of Russia’s presidential elections on March 14, 2024. woman. Moscow, Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to win the 2024 presidential election scheduled for March 15-17. (Photo credit/Getty Images)
Top Shot – A man votes in the Russian presidential election in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk on March 15, 2024 (Photo by Vladimir NIKOLAYEV/AFP) (Photo by Vladimir NIKOLAYEV/AFP via Getty Images)
A woman votes in the Russian presidential election in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains on March 15, 2024 (Photo: Anna YURIEVA/AFP) (Photo: ANNA YURIEVA/AFP via Getty Images)
“We need to use voting day to show that we exist, that many of us exist, that we are real, living, real people and that we are against Putin …What you do next is up to you. You can vote for any candidate except Putin. Your ballot may be ruined,” said widow Yulia Navalnaya.
It remains to be seen how well this strategy will work.
Golos, Russia’s prominent independent election monitoring group, said in a report this week that authorities are “doing everything they can to keep the public unaware of the very fact that elections are taking place.”
The observer group described pre-vote campaigning as “almost unremarkable” and the “emptiest” since 2000, when Golos was founded and began monitoring Russia’s elections.
Putin’s campaign was a cover for presidential activity, and other candidates were “clearly reluctant,” the report said.
Golos said state media is spending less airtime on the election than in 2018, when Putin last won. The group says authorities are betting on pressuring voters they have control over (such as Russians working in state-owned companies and institutions) to come to polling stations, rather than promoting voting to ensure the desired turnout. It seems that there is.
Monitoring groups themselves are also facing a wave of repression. Grigory Melkonyanto, co-chairman of the monitoring group, is jailed and awaiting trial on charges widely seen as trying to pressure the group ahead of the election.
“This election will fail to reflect the true mood of the people,” Golos said in the report. “The distance between the people and the decision-making about the fate of the country has never been greater.”
