Presidential election underway in Russia

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 15 Mar 2024 by Alex Teddy

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On March 15 the election began. Polls close on March 17. The government has warned that protests during elections will be dealt with firmly. Anti-Putin groups armed by Ukraine have vowed to disrupt the election. They have been raiding across the border in March 2024. In the last presidential election there was reportedly a 68% turnout and Putin won 78% of the vote. The rumor is that Putin wants to outdo his previous record. The risk for the government is that because the result is a foregone conclusion very few people will vote. The government usually likes public political apathy. But the turnout could be embarrassingly low. Public sector workers have in some cases been ordered to vote. They can be geolocated to see that they went to the polling station. Supporters of the late Alexey Navalny say they will go to the polls at the last possible minute on March 17 as a legal show of defiance. Some oppositionists have called for voters to spoil their ballot papers in protest. Putin is seeking a record 5th term. It will be a 6-year term. If he stays in office until 2030 he will be 78. Two of the candidates running against Putin praise him effusively. They seem like dummy opposition. Vladislav Davankov of the New People Party is a challenger to Putin. Davankov, 40, wants to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, which he has been careful to call a special military operation. He vows to end censorship. He is by far the most liberal candidate and the youngest. He seems to be a genuine opponent of Putin. Opinion polls suggest he will score 5% of the vote. Russia has polling stations in Transnistria, the Russian-occupied region of Moldova. Moldova protested about this but it ma...