Russia is poised to hold its presidential election, which President Vladimir Putin is almost certain to win. It will give the longest serving Kremlin chief, since Joseph Stalin, another six year term in power. So how will it work?
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Russia’s elections are set to take place between the 15th and 17th of March. Results will follow shortly afterwards, and the winner will be inaugurated in May. Voting will also take place in what Russia calls its new territories, parts of Ukraine now controlled by Russian forces which have been placed under Russian law. Ukraine says it will not rest until it has ejected every last Russian soldier from those annexed territories.
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There are 112.3 million people with the right to vote in the election. Almost two million people abroad can also participate and 12,000 in a Cosmodrome, which Russia rents in Kazakhstan. Around 70 to 80 million people usually cast ballots. Turnout in 2018 was 67.5%. This year, a remote online voting system will also be available for the first time.
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Putin is running against Communist Nikolay Kharitonov, Leonid Slutsky, leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, and Vladislav Davankov of the New People party. Boris Nadezhdin, an anti-war candidate, was barred from running, as was Yekaterina Duntsova, a former TV journalist.
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71-year-old Putin, a former KGB Lieutenant Colonel, has already served as president for longer than any other Russian ruler since Joseph Stalin. The 1993 Russian constitution was seen by some in the West as a development that would lead to democracy in post-Soviet Russia. It’s originally specified that a president could only serve two terms of four years if they were back to back. But amendments in 2008 extended the presidential term to six years and changes in 2020 formally reset Putin’s own presidential term tally to zero from 2024, potentially allowing him to remain in power until 2036.
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The West cast Putin as a war criminal, a killer, and a dictator. Its opinion polls at home show he has approval ratings of 85%, higher than before the invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin says Putin enjoys overwhelming support from the Russian people and that Russia doesn’t want to be lectured by the West about democracy. Russian officials say the West is trying to undermine Russia by casting doubt on the legitimacy of the election. The Russian opposition sticks to the formal rules of the tightly controlled political system. Despite having seats in Parliament, it does not oppose the Kremlin on major issues. Putin’s opponents, many of whom are in jail or have fled abroad, have been predicting, since 1999, that turmoil will one day bring down the system over which he presides.
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The organization for security and cooperation in Europe’s office for democratic institutions and human rights said, in January, Russia had not invited OSCE observers to the election, calling the decision deeply regrettable. In 2018, the ODIHR said there were intense efforts to promote turnout and that citizens voted in significant numbers, but added that “restrictions on the fundamental freedoms of assembly association and expression, as well as on candidate registration have limited the space for political engagement and resulted in a lack of genuine competition.”