In the midst of war, Putin will secure his fifth term in office. His critics can no longer prevent this. But thousands are accompanying the election in Russia, which has been criticized as a farce, with silent protest.
Thousands of opponents of the long-time president accompanied the vote for a fifth term in office for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, organized with a heavy hand by Russia’s power apparatus, with a remarkable wave of protests. Despite attempts at intimidation by the authorities, on the last day of the election on Sunday, people gathered in many cities across the giant country in front of their respective polling stations at around 12 noon local time for the “Lunch Against Putin” campaign.
The opposition had called for this silent form of resistance so that Kremlin and war opponents could safely express their displeasure with this election, which critics classified as undemocratic. Nevertheless, civil rights activists reported dozens of arrests. The widow of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny caused a stir in Berlin: Julia Navalnaya took part in a protest there.
Tension clearly noticeable
In front of a polling station in central Moscow on Ukrainski Boulevard, the tension during the action was literally palpable. The people came, even though in Russia there are severe penalties for even the smallest of protests. Moscow’s public prosecutor’s office had expressly warned against taking part in this action and threatened criminal prosecution for “extremism”. Little by little, more and more people silently joined the queue, which eventually stretched behind a fence guarded by police officers.
“Choose,” an older woman whispered when asked why she came at lunchtime. The noticeably intimidated voter didn’t want to say anything more; her eyes filled with tears. A 64-year-old, on the other hand, said clearly: “We want to express our protest – against the war, against the regime, against all of that.”
The success of the campaign was also easy to see at polling station number 31 in Moscow’s Basmanny district: a queue suddenly formed right at lunchtime. Finally, more than 50 people stood in front of the polling station in a small wooden house. “We’re like cowboys here who have gathered for a duel at twelve o’clock in the afternoon,” jokes a young man named Alexander.
Volkov: “Explosion” of resistance
The opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin, who was excluded from the presidential election, was received with great applause by students at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. “I think you’ll still have the chance to vote for me,” he said at the university that served as a polling station. Meanwhile, in southeast Moscow, people brought flowers to the grave of the popular Putin opponent Navalny, who died a month ago in a Russian prison camp and who once wanted to become a presidential candidate himself.
Numerous people also took part in the actions in many other Russian cities. The well-known Navalny confidant Leonid Volkov spoke from exile of an “explosion” of resistance against Putin’s continued rule, which the Kremlin will probably celebrate pompously on Red Square this Monday. Navalny’s widow, Navalnaya, who fled abroad, took part in a protest in Berlin and wanted to vote at the Russian embassy there.
Arrests during protest against Putin’s fifth term in office
According to civil rights activists, more than 70 people were arrested in Russia by the afternoon – most of them in the city of Kazan. People in Moscow and St. Petersburg were also temporarily taken into custody. In St. Petersburg, an activist is said to have been picked up by security forces as she left her house. Some people are released after a while.
The Russian presidential election is primarily aimed at maintaining power for Putin, who will thus secure at least six more years as head of state. Opposition members were either not approved as candidates, fled abroad or are in prison. Putin’s three competitors were seen as mere personnel who either supported him directly or were at least aligned with the Kremlin.
Illegal voting in occupied Ukrainian territories
In addition, Moscow organized elections in violation of international law in occupied areas of Ukraine, against which Putin has been waging a brutal war of aggression for more than two years. This is one of the reasons why independent observers describe the vote as a farce and call on the international community not to recognize the result.
Data from Russian state pollsters indicated that the Kremlin ultimately wants to give Putin a vote of more than 80 percent – higher than at any time since he became president almost a quarter century ago. A high voter turnout is also considered important for the power apparatus so that the 71-year-old Putin can show that the people supposedly actively support him and his war. On Sunday afternoon, the electoral commission reported turnout at more than 70 percent – that would also be a record. A total of 114 million eligible voters were called.
Reports of systematic fraud
However, independent observers pointed to systematic fraud behind this high value. Since the first day of voting on Friday, a large number of cases have been documented in which employees of state-owned companies were pressured to vote and in some cases even had to take photos as evidence of their completed voting slip. Critics also complained that the online process in particular was easy to manipulate.
The vote ends on Sunday evening with the closing of the last polling stations at 7 p.m. CET in Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg) on the Baltic Sea. There are then direct predictions about the outcome of the election, which are based on voter surveys after voting and usually largely correspond to the result announced at the end. The first results should be available on Sunday evening, with more meaningful results on Monday.
Meanwhile, on this final day of voting, it is once again clear that in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, not everything is going according to plan as the Kremlin likes to claim. In southern Russia, a drone attack caused a fire at an oil refinery. As in previous days, the western Russian border region of Belgorod was bombarded with rockets. According to official information, a 16-year-old teenager died.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
