Putin wins new six-year term,
Western leaders mum on victory
Sheetal Sukhija - Monday 19th March, 2018
Putin got over 76 percent of the vote, won a new six-year term as Russian President
He has said he is considering changes to his government including the post of Prime Minister
World leaders have congratulated Putin but no Western leaders have responded to his victory
MOSCOW, Russia - 65-year-old Vladimir Putin, already Russia’s longest-serving leader since the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, won another term as the country’s President after securing a stunning 76 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election.
The man, who has been undefeated since 1999, when he became president on New Year's Eve that year, following Boris Yeltsin’s resignation, has dominated Russian politics since then.
And while it was a victory in an election that was widely projected to have no chance of going any other way - grand celebrations marked his victory nonetheless.
Putin’s landslide victory also came on the fourth anniversary of the treaty in which Putin formally declared Crimea part of Russia following its annexation.
Putin is set to serve to the end of his new fourth term, which will take his political dominance of Russia to nearly a quarter of a century until 2024, making him the longest ruler since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, by which time Putin will be 71.
According to official results, Putin got over 76 percent of the vote.
His nearest competitor, millionaire communist Pavel Grudinin, received 11.8 percent of the vote.
Ksenia Sobchak, a former reality TV host got less than 2 percent of the vote, while veteran nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky got 5.6 percent.
Putin’s fiercest political opponent, Alexei Navalny was prohibited from contesting due to a fraud conviction that he has criticized as being politically motivated.
The scale of victory in the Presidential election had been widely predicted and appears to be a marked increase in Putin's share of the vote from the 64 percent he won in 2012.
Meanwhile, voter turnout stood at 67.47 percent, which was also said to have risen considerably since 2012.
The English-language Moscow Times said in a report, "In a widely-expected result, an exit poll by pollster VTsIOM showed Putin, who has already dominated the political landscape for the last 18 years, had won 73.9 percent of the vote. Backed by state TV, the ruling party, and credited with an approval rating around 80 percent, his victory was never in doubt. Critics alleged that officials had compelled people to come to the polls to ensure that voter boredom at the one-sided contest did not lead to a low turnout."
Following the elections, Igor Morozov, a member of the upper house of parliament, said on state television, “I think that in the United States and Britain they've understood they cannot influence our elections. Our citizens understand what sort of situation Russian finds itself in today.”
His statement came after Russia's Election Commission said in a report on Sunday their “website was hit by a cyberattack overnight” and adding that “the cyberattack originated overseas - in 15 countries overseas. We don't have much more detail than that, and we'll see if the claim goes anywhere."
Addressing a late night victory rally near Red Square in Moscow, Putin told a cheering crowd he interpreted the win as a vote of confidence and said that voters had "recognized the achievements of the last few years” in tough conditions.
He led the crowd in repeated chants of “Russia” and said, “It's very important to maintain this unity.”
Later, he told a meeting of supporters that difficult times were ahead, but that Russia had a chance to make "a breakthrough."
He also said that he was considering changes to his government, including the post of prime minister.
Since 2012, the post is held by former President Dmitry Medvedev who changed places with Putin that year.
Putin has also vowed to use his new term to beef up Russia's defences against the West and to raise living standards.
On Monday morning, Russia's Central Election Commission said it had not registered any serious complaints about violations.
However, video recordings from polling stations showed irregularities in a number of towns and cities across Russia.
Some even showed election officials stuffing boxes with ballot papers.
Independent election monitoring group Golos reported hundreds of irregularities during polling day.
The group said these irregularities included webcams at polling stations obstructed by balloons and other obstacles.
However, Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Electoral Commission, said there were only half as many reported violations compared to 2012, and that none had been serious.
International observers are due to give their verdict on how clean the election was later on Monday.
Meanwhile, Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the upper house, hailed the victory as a moral one over the West and said, "Our elections have proved once again... that it's not possible to manipulate our people. People came together."
Opposition leader Navalny, reacting to the election result indicated he had been unable to contain his anger.
He tweeted, “Now is the season of Lent. I took it upon myself never to get angry and not to raise my voice. Oh well, I'll try again next year.”
He is expected to call for anti-Putin protests demanding a re-run of an election and has claimed that the polls were neither free nor fair.
As world leaders congratulated Vladimir Putin on Sunday night and into Monday morning, no Western leaders have responded to his victory so far.
The Chinese President Xi Jinping was among the first to offer his congratulations to Putin and said in a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement, that he believed Russia would "definitely continue to create new glories for national development."
Jinping added, "Currently, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership is at the best level in history, which sets an example for building a new type of international relations."
Leaders of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba also sent their best wishes to Putin.
However, no Western leaders have so far made any comment.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas questioned the fairness of the election.
Maas said Russia would remain a difficult partner, but added, "We want to remain in dialogue."
In recent weeks, tensions between Russia and the West have deepened after the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain.
The U.K. government, blaming Russia and Putin directly for the poisoning has expelled 23 Russian diplomats from London, triggering a tit-for-tat response from Moscow.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has imposed sanctions on a group of Russians over alleged interference in the 2016 election.
