There is an election in Russia. Vladimir Putin will probably become the new Kremlin chief. Attacks on election offices may not change this much.
The polling stations had barely opened when it was already clear who would win the vote for the future head of the Kremlin: Waldimir Putin. The 71-year-old, who has been waging war against Ukraine for more than two years, is expected to lead the world’s largest country in terms of area for another six years. The presidential election, criticized as a farce, began with the exclusion of the opposition.
State election researchers expect a record result of more than 80 percent of the vote on Sunday in the three-day vote. A total of 114 million people were called to vote, including more than 4.5 million in the areas of Ukraine attacked by Russia that were occupied in violation of international law. Ukraine criticizes the vote as illegal.
Under the impression of the war and accompanied by individual protests, around 27 million people in the country with eleven time zones voted on Friday, according to the electoral commission. Voter turnout was reported at 24 percent. But things are not going smoothly everywhere. An overview of attacks and mishaps:
Ink instead of ballot papers in the ballot boxes
According to authorities, several people were arrested on Friday for vandalism at polling stations on the first day of the presidential election in Russia. Incidents were reported in the capital Moscow as well as the regions of Voronezh, Rostov and Karachay-Cherkessia, among others. It remained unclear whether these were protests against the re-election of President Vladimir Putin. In total, between 100 and 150 ballot papers were destroyed, said the deputy head of the election management, Nikolai Bulayev, according to the Russian state news agency Tass on Friday. However, the incidents did not have an impact on the result.
Women and men poured ink into urns in the Rostov region and in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia in the North Caucasus, the deputy head of the electoral commission in Moscow, Nikolai Bulayev, said on Friday, according to the state news agency Tass. The aim of the attackers was to invalidate the ballot papers. Bulayev called for greater security at polling stations. According to investigators, the people were arrested for “obstructing the exercise of the right to vote.”
A video also circulated on social networks that shows a woman – supposedly in Moscow – pouring paint from a bottle into an urn, initially completely unmolested. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.
Bulayev accused the perpetrators of acting on behalf of others. “It’s clear they were promised money, a reward,” he said. Russia repeatedly accuses Western states of wanting to influence the vote.
Ignition in the voting booth
Another video showed an elderly woman setting a voting booth on fire. According to the media, the 70-year-old was arrested in Moscow and faces up to five years in prison.
In the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug in Siberia, a woman tried to set a ballot box on fire with a Molotov cocktail, according to a poll worker. In the southern Russian region of Chelyabinsk, police arrested a man who tried to set off a firecracker at a polling station, according to a report by the Tass news agency.
According to local media, similar cases of vandalism were also reported in St. Petersburg and the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula.
Protests are banned in Russia. Opposition members around Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in custody, had called for a protest election. However, they advised quiet protest and also pointed out the risk of being arrested and punished. Opponents of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin were therefore advised to protest quietly so as not to risk imprisonment. It was said that ballot papers in the booth could be invalidated by ticking several candidates.
The returning officer Ella Pamifilowa, a former human rights activist and now a close confidant of Putin, called for vigilance against saboteurs at the polling stations. “It’s about the same kind of scumbags who blow up train tracks and blow people up for 10,000 rubles (100 euros). They are ready to sell anything for a penny of blood,” she complained.
Online voting disrupted
If you didn’t want to go to the polls, you could also vote online. At least those who were there in time. Because of a large number of voters who wanted to cast their votes online, there were temporary failures in the system, the Central Election Commission told the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti on Friday. In the capital Moscow alone, 500,000 people cast their votes online that morning, it was said.
In some cases the vote was organized like a folk festival with folklore performances and singers. Many prominent politicians, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, cast their votes early – “for Russia’s future,” as it is officially said. The head of the Just Russia Party, Sergei Mironov, who openly supports Putin, inserted his completed ballot into the transparent ballot box without an envelope.
Choosing under bombs
The election was accompanied by increased Ukrainian attacks on Russia. Shortly after polls opened on Friday morning, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had destroyed “seven rocket-propelled grenades over the Belgorod region” on the border with Ukraine. According to a report by state news agency Ria Novosti, voters had to go to an air raid shelter after authorities raised the air raid alarm. In the meantime, the vote there even had to be interrupted. In reports from independent Russian media, the situation was sometimes much more dramatic: For example, a video from another polling station was circulated in which a loud explosion noise can be heard – and then people screaming in panic.
Kiev carried out some of the heaviest airstrikes on Russia in the days before the election, some reaching hundreds of kilometers into Russian territory. In addition, pro-Ukrainian Russian militias penetrated the Russian border area several times this week. Moscow said it had repelled all attacks by militants.
In addition, the authorities installed by Moscow in the partly Russian-controlled Ukrainian region of Kherson accuse the Ukrainian armed forces of having bombed two polling stations. On Telegram, the local electoral commission said that polling stations in Kakhovka and Brylivka, which had been set up for the Russian presidential election, had been targeted. Several people were injured and the buildings were damaged. Reuters cannot independently verify the information.
Putin could become Russia’s longest ruler
The election lasts a total of three days and also includes the Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine. In the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, poll workers opened improvised polling stations on small tables on the street or on the hoods of cars. Banners were rolled out with a red, white and blue “V” logo – one of the Russian army’s symbols used to show support for the offensive. Similar scenes also took place in the eastern Donetsk region.
Kiev called the vote a “farce” and said holding the election in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, was “illegal.”
Another term would allow Putin to rule until 2030 – longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century. After constitutional reform, he could even run again and stay in power until 2036. According to a state polling institute, the incumbent Kremlin leader could receive more than 80 percent of the vote.
Voting lasts until Sunday evening, when the last polling stations in Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg) on the Baltic Sea close at 7 p.m. CET. The first forecasts are expected immediately afterwards. There will only be meaningful results on Monday night. According to the electoral commission, around 114 million people are called to vote.