2024-03-12 00:28:37
Russian President Vladimir Putin could get 82% of the vote in the upcoming elections, according to sociologists loyal to the Kremlin, quoted by DPA.
Russians will vote in a presidential election that ends on Sunday in which Putin will try to win another six-year term.
His victory was considered a foregone conclusion due to the lack of a serious challenger, but the authorities are doing everything possible to present the vote as convincing, according to DPA. His three rivals, who either openly support Putin or toe the Kremlin line, are believed to have no chance and will each get between 5% and 6% of the vote, according to a survey of eligible voters by the Sociological Institute VCIOM.
The Central Election Commission has barred opposition candidates from running for the election, which is scheduled to be held from Friday to Sunday.
Sociological surveys in Russia are a key tool by which the government assesses the effectiveness of the Kremlin’s propaganda, for example in the state media, commented DPA. Kremlin-controlled state television, which is mainly watched by elderly Russians in rural areas, presents Putin as a candidate without an alternative, BTA writes.
Putin, who has been in power for almost a quarter of a century and who in 2022 launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, claims the election is a vote for “Russia’s future. He presents the war in Ukraine as a battle against Western hegemony, which resonates with many Russians, DPA notes.
If Putin gets more than 80% of the vote, it would be his best result in a presidential election and could be taken as a signal of the confidence of the ruling powers.
In the 2018 election, he received 76.7% of the vote on a turnout of 67.5%. According to information from the election commission, the number of people with the right to vote in Russia is 112 million. Another 2 million Russians live abroad.