Moscow: Vladimir Putin just secured another term as Russian President. With his fifth term as President, Putin is also now the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin. During his victory speeches to mark his “landslide victory”, Putin hailed Russia’s “transparent democracy” while taking a jibe at Western elections.
Russia’s presidential elections were held from Friday to Sunday. Over these three days, Vladimir Putin won the vote with a “landslide victory”. With only 60 percent of the votes in, Putin enjoyed a clear lead with 87 percent of the votes.
Taking to the stage for his victory speech. Putin hailed Russian democracy and stated that the democracy in Russia is much more transparent than that of the West.
“It’s transparent and absolutely objective,” Putin suggested, “not like in the US with mail-in voting… you can buy a vote for $10”.
With this win, Putin has also become the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin in the Soviet era. Stalin served as the leader of the USSR from 1924 to 1953 (29 years). Putin has been in office for 24 years and with his fifth term, he will remain in office till 2030, taking his tenure to 30 years.
As per early results, while Putin clocked in 87 percent of the votes, communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov came second with just under 4 percent. Newcomer Vladislav Davankov came in third and ultra-nationalist Leonid Slutsky secured the fourth position.
The 2024 elections also surpassed the voter turnout recorded in 2018. In 2018, the voter turnout was 67.5 percent. However, for the 2024 elections, the turnout was recorded at 74.22 percent.
Despite his “landslide victory”, Russia’s elections have been criticised and labelled as “illegal” and “pseudo”. Putin’s victory was never once in doubt despite contesting with more candidates. These candidates shared the same ideology as as Putin and the Election Commission disqualified those who didn’t.
Putin’s most open and well-known critic Alexei Navalny, the only candidate who would’ve been able to defeat Putin, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in an Arctic prison last month.
