Vladimir Putin declares ‘open and honest victory’ in Russian elections

Vladimir Putin appears headed back to the Kremlin after exit polls and early official results had him headed for a first-round win in Russia’s controversial presidential election.

Mr. Putin, who was president from 2000 to 2008 before stepping aside to become prime minister for four years, looks set to win about 60 per cent of the vote. His nearest contender, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, was on course to win around 18 per cent.

By crossing the 50 per cent line, Mr. Putin would avoid the need for a second-round off against Mr. Zyuganov. Tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and longtime Putin ally Sergei Mironov were all on course to finish with less than 10 per cent of the vote.

The 59-year-old Mr. Putin has said he will appoint President Dmitry Medvedev, who stepped aside so that Mr. Putin could return to the Kremlin, as his prime minister. The two men announced the job swap last fall at a convention of the ruling United Russia party.

“We have won an open and honest victory,” a seemingly teary-eyed Mr. Putin told a crowd of tens of thousands who gathered on Moscow’s Manezh Square, just outside the Kremlin and Red Square. He said his return to the presidency would guarantee a “great Russia.”

“Those were not just presidential elections,” he said in an apparent reference to a series of opposition protest in recent months. “This was a test of [our] political maturity and independence. We have shown that no-one can bestow anything upon us.”

Mr. Putin’s wide margin of victory won’t be enough to deter opposition crowds who are expected to take to the streets Monday to protest a vote they say was marred by Kremlin manipulation throughout the process. Tens of thousands are expected to fill Moscow’s central Pushkin Square tomorrow to register their anger over a campaign that saw the disqualification of some candidates, heavy media control and numerous allegations of election day fraud.

Allegations of ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation marred a December parliamentary election, prompting the biggest protests Russia has seen since the early 1990s. The anti-Putin movement now hopes to capitalize on that momentum to force new parliamentary and presidential elections under new rules.

“It is already evident that the violations are clearly and indisputably affecting the outcome of the vote and yet again show that these are not real elections,” opposition figure Alexey Navalny told the Echo Moscow radio station. Mr. Zyuganov and Mr. Prokhorov made similar comments, with Mr. Zyuganov calling the vote “unfair, dishonest and unworthy.”

Original Article
Source: Globe
Author: mark mackinnon