Vladimir Putin announced the referendum

Political scientist Dmitry Oreshkin uses an unexpected image to depict the issues at stake in Russia's March 15-17 presidential election: “It reminds me of the parade of immaculately dressed athletes who paraded before Stalin on Red Square in Moscow. There are thousands of them, but if only one holds a portrait of the leader, the sanctity of the event tainted. »

In other words, elections are increasingly a simple symbolic ritual, a moment of collective celebration, rather than a democratic exercise used to appoint or legitimize rulers. And Vladimir Putin, in power since 2000, is seeking a new mandate to take him through 2030, a show of force.

A senior official of the Central Election Commission between 1995 and 2007, Mr. The advantage of the image used by Oregon is that it applies to both candidates and candidates. To voters: Everyone is invited to take a step.

Two candidates with a staunch anti-war rhetoric, Ekaterina Tauntsova and Boris Nadezhdin, who sparked a wave of excitement, were dropped from the race, citing errors in their application files. And of those who were allowed to run – nationalist Leonid Slutsky, communist Nikolai Kharidonov and businessman Vladislav Davankov, who were expected to win a share of the liberal vote – none pretended to want to compete with M. Putin or offered the slightest criticism. against his principles.

“Even if these candidates are completely loyal, the simple possibility of a counter-vote is unacceptable, Mr Orechkine believes. They cannot score more than 10%. » The political scientist recalled the previous Communist Party candidate in the 2018 presidential election, Pavel Grudinin, who, after a blistering campaign, won nearly 12% of the vote. After the election, Mr. Grudinin lost his shares in a large agricultural company, his local orders, and disappeared from public life.

The only suspense in this 2024 edition is whether the incumbent, Vladimir Putin, will score above or below 80%. The figure was quoted by online media as being in the fall of 2023 Medusa Kremlin strategists were targeted. Mr. This was accepted by almost all observers, who noted that Putin's score would be higher than in 2018, when he received 77.53% of the vote.

You should read 73.54% in this article. The rest is reserved for subscribers.