Russian president Vladimir Putin won the presidential poll claiming 87.8% of the vote as per the exit poll by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM)
His victory marks the highest-ever recorded percentage in Russia’s modern electoral history.
As expected, he was always going to win the polls, faced with three other rubber-stamp candidates put up by the Kremlin. This election was also different as it was for the first time that Russia voted in a three-day poll.
On the last day of polling, there were symbolic protests carried out by supporters of dead Putin critic Alexei Navalny, but it was unlikely to have any major impact on the result.
The West condemned the voting and said that it was neither fair nor free. The German government termed it as a “pseudo-election” under an authoritarian ruler reliant on censorship, repression and violence.
United Kingdom’s foreign secretary Lord Cameron condemned “the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory”, while Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said “the Russian dictator is simulating another election”.
Russian state controlled TV channels welcomed the results and termed it as a setback to the West.
Earlier, Vladimir Putin had termed the elections as “transparent and absolutely objective… and not like in the US with mail-in voting… you can buy a vote for $10″
Putin also praised those in the opposition for encouraging voters to turn out in greater numbers after the polls came to an end.
For the first time, Putin spoke about the death of his critic Alexei Navalny.
Rebutting allegations that he had his critic killed, Putin confirmed reports that he had wanted to exchange him for prisoners held in the West, but only on the condition that his rival never return to Russia.
“I said I’m for it but, unfortunately, what happened happened. What can you do? That’s life.”
With this victory, Putin is set to start his new six-year term that will see him overtake authoritarian Joseph Stalin.
