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Russia’s presidential election, scheduled to last three days, has begun – critics of the Kremlin leader point to the electoral farce. More or less subtle.
It’s all about this: The presidential election in Russia has begun and will last until Sunday. It is considered certain that Kremlin leader Putin will emerge as the winner for the fifth time. However, Moscow’s power apparatus wants to achieve the highest possible voter turnout in order to describe the vote, which Putin’s opponents have described as a farce, as legitimate. According to Russian state pollsters, Putin can expect a record result of more than 80 percent of the vote. But apparently some people in Russia want to thwart the ruler’s plans.
The faithful at the ballot box
Too many crosses on the ballot paper: Protests are banned in Russia. Opposition members around Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in custody, had called for a protest election. However, they advised quiet protest and also pointed out the risk of being arrested and punished. One way to quietly protest: invalidate ballot papers in the booth by ticking several candidates.
Ink and paint in ballot boxes: According to Russian authorities, there were several attacks on ballot boxes containing ballot papers on the first day. Women and men poured ink into urns in the Rostov region and in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia in the North Caucasus, claims the deputy head of the electoral commission in Moscow, Nikolai Bulayev, according to the state news agency Tass. The aim of the attackers was to invalidate the ballot papers. A video also circulated on social networks that shows a woman – supposedly in Moscow – pouring paint from a bottle into an urn, initially completely unmolested.
Legend:
This screenshot from a video broadcast by CCTV purports to show a woman emptying ink into a ballot box at a polling station in Moscow. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.
Reuters/Screenshot CCTV
Fire in voting booths and polling stations: Another video shows an elderly woman setting a voting booth on fire. According to the media, the 70-year-old was arrested in Moscow and faces up to five years in prison. According to the “Fontanka” portal, there was an arson attack on a polling station with a Molotov cocktail in St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg is Putin’s hometown.
Legend:
A video from which this screenshot comes was also broadcast on CCTV: It supposedly shows a fire in a polling station in Moscow.
Reuters/Screenshot CCTV
Attacks by Ukraine: Attacks have increased in the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine in recent days. Units from Ukraine have entered Russian territory, as both sides confirm. The Kremlin sees these as attempts to destabilize the presidential election. In addition, the Moscow-installed authorities in the partly Russian-controlled Ukrainian region of Kherson accuse the Ukrainian armed forces of bombing two polling stations. The local electoral commission announced on Telegram that bars in Kakhovka and Brylivka had been targeted. Several people were injured and the buildings were damaged.
Early congratulations: There is also subtle criticism from outside. Even before the first of three days of voting in Russia ended, EU Council President Charles Michel congratulated the autocrat. “I would like to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his landslide victory in the elections that begin today,” he jokes on the X platform (formerly Twitter). «No opposition. No freedom. No choice.”