“Putin continues to be very popular among the masses”, but 87% of the vote is “fraud”: “It would be strange if the elections were free and fair”

“A 99% vote would have seemed too Soviet; 70% would suggest that a significant minority was against Putin, but something in the order of 80% seemed right.” This is how Alexander Motyl, professor of Political Science at Rutgers University-Newark, in the United States of America, and author of several works on Ukraine and Russia, frames the results of the Russian elections. Although the President’s reappointment is not surprising, obtaining a record 76 million votes and 87% of voter preferences inspires several readings, especially if considered allegations of electoral fraud in the country.

“The Government limited who could run, and murdered one of the biggest members of the opposition, in addition to the results being manipulated”, declared William Alberque, director of Strategy, Technology and Arms Control at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, in Berlin. “I would say that the manipulation shows the fragility and fear of Putin’s leadership.”

After three days of voting, an electoral monitoring group classified the Russian presidential elections as the most fraudulent and corrupt in its history. The NGO “Golos” stated that the results were not legitimate, as “the campaign took place in a situation where the fundamental articles of the Russian Constitution, which guarantee political rights and freedoms, were essentially not in force”.