Russia to confirm Putin in office on March 17
The voting itself is likely to be as formal as the announcement of the election date. After all, Russia's President Putin has locked up the most important Kremlin critics and is likely to be re-elected for a six-year term on March 17. But that doesn't have to be the end of it.
The Russian upper house of parliament has set the date for next year's presidential election. At a televised meeting, the Federation Council decided that the election will take place on March 17. "This decision practically gives the starting signal for the presidential election campaign," said Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of the parliamentary chamber. The polling stations will once again be open for three days, according to the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova.
The organization of voting in the Russian-occupied parts of the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk will be decided at a later date. Ukraine continues to fight with Western help to wrest the annexed territories back from Russia. There are to be no presidential elections there in the spring due to the war.
Although Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has not yet announced his candidacy for a further term of office, there is little doubt that he will run again in the election. The term of office is six years. For days now, state television has been showing programs in which citizens swear allegiance to the 71-year-old Kremlin leader and pledge to vote for him in his fifth candidacy.
The Kremlin is expecting a record result for Putin in the vote, which is dominated by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The president presents himself as a champion against the USA's quest for supremacy and against the eastward expansion of NATO. The stylization of the West as the enemy that Putin is fighting against is catching on with many Russians. Furthermore, there are no independent media in Russia. Many have been working in exile for years, others took this step in the wake of stricter laws for the media following the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Political protest is also brutally suppressed in Russia.
Putin deliberately shuts down the opposition
In the 2018 vote, Putin received 76.69% of the votes. Liberal opposition politician Grigory Yavlinsky, who is calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and peace negotiations, has declared his willingness to take part in the election again. However, he is not a really serious rival candidate for Putin. In the 2018 election, Yavlinsky received 1.05% of the vote. Russia's best-known opposition politician Alexei Navalny is serving a total of more than 30 years in prison in a penal colony. Navalny's supporters are also imprisoned or have left the country. Other members of the opposition have fallen victim to assassination attempts in recent years or have also been imprisoned.
Putin took up his first term in office as president in 2000; in between, he served as prime minister for four years - after a castling with Dmitry Medvedev - before being re-elected head of state in 2012 and 2018. As a result of a constitutional reform passed on Putin's initiative in 2020, he could theoretically remain in office as president until 2036.
If Putin completes another six-year term in the Kremlin, he will overtake Joseph Stalin, who led the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953. And Putin will then be Russia's longest-serving head of state since Tsarina Catherine the Great in the 18th century.
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Russia is expected to officially declare Vladimir Putin's re-election as president on March 17, following a unanimous vote in the Federation Council. Despite the formalities, international criticism and calls for free and fair elections persist due to Putin's suppression of opposition figures and independent media.
Source: www.ntv.de
