Путин Великий: Император России
Putin the Great: Emperor of Russia
Breaking! Headline! Read all about it!
Vladimir Putin has won a landslide victory to serve a term as Russia’s president again. Again. Again. Again. Again.
Russia’s most recent presidential election results were released on March 18, 2024. For the fifth consecutive term, Putin won with large margins, securing 87% of the vote. By the end of this term, Putin will be the longest-serving Russian leader since Catherine the Great.
In an election far from free or fair, 77% of the country’s eligible voters cast their votes between March 15 and 17. None of Putin’s three opponents in the election secured even five percent of the vote: An unsurprising statistic, considering that their little campaigning consisted of praising the incumbent's work rather than challenging it.
Antiwar candidates known for opposing Putin’s platform were barred from campaigning despite the work of Russians compiling signature petitions to secure their spots on the ballot.
Regardless of evidence suggesting otherwise, Putin denied any claims suggesting the vote was undemocratic, instead pointing his victory to the support of his fellow Russians.
Putin’s victory has received public support from Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un.The U.S. and other Western leaders have simultaneously denounced the election.
With his victory, Putin has advertised a term dedicated to addressing “threats in the West,” advancing deeper into Ukraine, and hovering around clashes with NATO. Putin’s efficiency in advancing these attacks is expected to be optimal as the Kremlin is now “increasingly confident” after learning the extent to which their constituents will submit to totalitarian abuses.
Those who notably opposed this agenda were rendered silent during this election cycle as Putin’s loudest critics, Yevgeny Prigozhin and Alexei Navalny, have met unfortunate ends in recent months. However, the legacies of these rebels are still prominent.
Lines grew outside of polls at noon on the final day of voting. Supporters of Navalny organized gatherings at polling locations where signs were held in support of the late activist. Many even wrote Navalny’s name on the ballot as a part of their “Noon Against Putin” demonstrations.
Additionally, other protestors in Russia poured dye in ballot boxes, started fires, and lobbed Molotov cocktails at polling stations as public acts of refusal to accept the outcome of the election. Even beyond Russia’s borders, protesting occurred as at least 249 people were detained in Ukraine for refusing to take part in the vote. Those detained spoke to their experience as “voting literally at gunpoint.”
Despite these brave acts of defiance, some Russians still support Putin and the little stability he has brought in his czar-like administration.
It is unclear whether growing tensions in Russia will be enough to prevent another article just like this one from being written again in six years at the end of Putin’s current term.