Polling stations closed in Russia on Sunday night, the last day of a three-day presidential election. Earlier at noon, Russians gathered at open-air polling stations, reacting to an opposition call to protest President Vladimir Putin, who is set to make his nearly quarter-century rule bigger over six years after a relentless crackdown on dissent.
An initial announcement by Russia’s Central Election Commission at the end of voting suggested that voter turnout hovered around 75 percent nationwide. Citing election data compiled by the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Research (VTsIOM), a state-owned institution, the commission said Putin won 87% of the vote and was the expected winner of the election. Nikolai Kharitonov, the Communist Party candidate, won 4. 6% of the vote, the second-highest percentage.
The elections that began on Friday took place in a tightly controlled environment, where there is no genuine choice for Putin, no public complaint about him or his war in Ukraine. Putin’s fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, was killed in a criminal attack in the Arctic last month. and other critics are in jail or in exile.
Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, cast her vote in the Russian election at the Russian embassy in Berlin on Sunday, after queuing for several hours, the BBC reported. Navalnaya said as she left the embassy that she had written her late husband’s last call. in their survey before issuing their survey, according to the news outlet.
“It is highly unlikely that a month before the election, the campaign, Putin’s main opponent, who was already in prison, would be assassinated,” Navalnaya said, according to the BBC. Navalny had long been an advocate of fair elections in Russia. The opposition leader was barred from running in the country’s last presidential election in 2018, as well as this one. Before his death, Navalny had called on the Russian electorate to vote against Putin at noon on Sunday, as part of a collective act of protest against his re-election. Navalnaya supported the action.
Navalny’s relatives have suggested to those dissatisfied with Putin or the war that they protest by going to the polls at noon on Sunday, a strategy backed by Navalny shortly before his death. Navalny’s team described it as a success, posting photographs and videos of other people piled up near polling stations in cities across Russia around noon.
At a barbecue in Washington on Saturday night, U. S. President Biden issued a dire warning against Putin’s grip on power, saying it was “underway in Europe. “
“Tonight we are joined by the Prime Minister of Estonia, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States. I say, I say. . . We will not bow,” Mr. Biden. “It’s possible that they didn’t bow and I probably didn’t bow. “
The 71-year-old Russian leader faces three symbolic rivals from pro-Kremlin parties, who have refrained from complaining about his 24 years in rule or his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Putin boasted of Russian successes on the battlefield in the U. S. On the eve of the vote, a major Ukrainian drone strike across Russia early Sunday is a reminder of the difficult situations facing Moscow.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had shot down 35 Ukrainian drones overnight, adding 4 near the Russian capital. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said there were no casualties or damage.
Russia’s wartime economy has proved resilient and developed despite heavy Western sanctions. Russia’s defense industry has been a key expansion engine, running 24 hours a day to produce missiles, tanks, and ammunition.
Voting takes place at polling stations in all 11 time zones of the vast country, in Ukraine’s illegally annexed regions and online. More than 60% of the eligible electorate cast their ballots early Sunday morning.
Dmitry Sergienko, who voted in Moscow, said he voted for Putin: “I am satisfied with everything and I want it to continue as it has been. “
Olga Dymova, who also supported Putin, said: “I am sure that our country will move towards success. “
Another Moscow voter, who is known only by his first name, Vadim, said he hoped for a change, though he added that “unfortunately it is unlikely. “
Navalny’s affiliates posted images with the comments of those who went to the polls at noon to protest against Putin, their faces blurred in their identities.
“The action has achieved its goals,” Ivan Zhdanov, head of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said in a YouTube broadcast. “This action showed that Russia exists, that there are other people who oppose Putin. “
Another Navalny ally, Leonid Volkov, said the protest was aimed at unifying and encouraging those who oppose Putin.
It was unimaginable to verify whether the electorate shown queuing outside polling stations in videos and images released through Navalny’s affiliates and some Russian media outlets had responded to the call to protest, or simply reflected a high turnout.
Around noon, long lines also formed in front of Russian diplomatic missions in Berlin, Paris, Milan and other cities with gigantic Russian communities.
Boris Nadezhdin, a liberal politician who tried to register in the race on a pacifist platform but was barred from appearing before election officials, expressed hope that many Russians would vote against Putin.
“I want Russians today to have the opportunity to show their true attitude to what is happening by voting not for Putin, but for other candidates or in some other way, and that is precisely what I did,” he said after choosing his vote. Dolgorpudny, just outside Moscow.
The group OVD-Info, which monitors political arrests, said more than 50 more people were arrested on Sunday in 14 cities across Russia.
Despite strict controls, dozens of acts of vandalism were reported at polling stations.
A woman arrested in St. Petersburg after throwing a firebomb in front of a polling station, and several others were arrested across the country for throwing green antiseptic or ink at the ballot box.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council chaired by Putin, has called for tougher sanctions against those vandalizing polling stations, arguing they will be charged with treason for trying to derail the vote amid fighting in Ukraine.
Some Russian media have also published photographs of annulled votes mailed through voters, with the word “murderer and thief” written on one and “waiting for you in The Hague” on the other, in reference to an arrest warrant issued against Putin for war crimes related to his alleged duty in the abductions of children in Ukraine.
Before the election, Putin framed his war in Ukraine, now in its third year, as a life-and-death war against the West to break Russia.
Russian troops have recently made slow advances depending on their firepower, while Ukraine has responded by stepping up cross-border attacks and launching drone strikes on Russia.
Ukrainian shelling of the city of Belgorod near the border killed a 16-year-old woman and wounded her father on Sunday, according to the local governor, who also reported two deaths in Ukrainian attacks last day.
Putin described the attacks as an attempt across Ukraine to scare citizens and derail Russia’s presidential election, saying they “will go unpunished. “
Western leaders mocked the elections as a travesty of democracy.
Beyond the lack of features for voters, the odds of independent oversight are very limited. No primary foreign observers were present. Only applicants registered and approved through the Kremlin, or state-backed advisory bodies, can assign observers to polling stations, reducing the likelihood that independent observers will exist.