Much To Their Angst!!

The CNN called it stage managed, the New York Times described it as  a rubber-stamp presidential election and the Guardian quoted the US government describing the elections as  “obviously not free nor fair”.  However the fact remains that Putin won 87 percent of the votes in the presence of international monitors.

International observers from 106 countries and 12,000 journalists from 2,500 media outlets were present to accompany the Russian Presidential elections. The media and international observers played a critical oversight role in ensuring that the elections were indeed free and fair and to give the voting process credibility. The system’s efficiency resides in the fast counting and verification of votes. . The remaining less than 15 percent of the votes are shared, with marginal differences, between the Communist Party of the Russian Federation’s Nikolai Kharitonov, the New People’s Party’s Vladislav Davankov, and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia’s Leonid Slutsky, respectively.

President Putin did not arrive at this result by cooking the books but by working hard to make positive amendments to the Russian Constitution.  On 1 July 2020, 78 percent of Russians, in a voter turnout of 68 per cent, voted for amendments to the Constitution. These amendments extended the Presidential term to six years and ushered in constitutional reform to accommodate the changes in Russia since 1993. Among the implications of the constitutional amendments are guaranteed rights for children, pensioners and workers. The amendments also entrench Russia’s sovereignty by prioritising domestic interests and affirming its culture and values.

On 15 to 17 March 2024, the people of Russia voted for the first time since the constitutional amendments were affected. Russia’s Central Elections Committee reported that 112 million voters had registered in Russia, with another 1,9 million voters abroad. Among them were voters from the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.. These four areas were historically part of Russia. However, they had been incorporated into Ukraine after the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in the early 1990s. They voted to be reintegrated into Russia in the September 2022 referendum. Therefore it is not surprising that those regions that voted to be re integrated into Russia would vote for President Putin – therefore, the usual one-day elections had to be held over three days to allow all voters to participate. Online voting also enabled those in rural areas and far from voting stations to have their say. Voter turnout exceeded 77 percent.

The war in the Ukraine undoubtedly played an important role in Putin winning the elections. Citizens came forward   urging Putin to run again for Presidential elections .These citizens had lost children in the war but could still see that for Russia to win the war President Putin must remain. The war and what it necessitates will determine the president’s future decisions.

Putin in his speech brushed aside Western criticism saying: “What did you want, for them to applaud us? They’re fighting with us in an armed conflict … Their goal is to contain our development. Of course they’re ready to say anything,” he said.

Reem Haddad

Editor-in-Chief