“The presidential election will not be fair like the last local elections.”
Presidential elections expected to be held in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia
“The ‘right’ result is a priority to justify the invasion of Ukraine”
The British Ministry of Defense assessed on the 17th (local time) that there is a high possibility that the Russian government will attempt to manipulate elections and intimidate voters in occupied territories during next year’s presidential election.
On this day, the British Ministry of Defense posted a daily defense information update on social networking services (SNS), saying, “It is almost certain that the Russian administration will use methods such as substantial election fraud and voter intimidation to ensure that Russian President Vladimir Putin wins in this region by a significant margin.” reported.
He also analyzed, “Like local elections, voting for the presidential election in areas controlled by Russia is almost certain to be neither free nor fair.”
On the 11th, Russia’s Central Election Commission announced that voting in the presidential election would be expanded to the Ukrainian-occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia. On the 14th of last month, President Putin personally signed a bill containing this content. This is because the region was included in the Russian local elections last September.
The British Ministry of Defense said: “Russian authorities want to create the perception that Russia’s invasion (of Ukraine) was justified. “For that reason, they almost certainly see achieving the ‘right’ results in that region as a priority.”
President Putin, who is running for a fifth term, has ambitions to extend his term until 2030. The prevailing view is that President Putin will be elected without difficulty.
The United Russia Party decided to unanimously support President Putin in the next presidential election. The United Russia Party is a powerful political party, occupying 324 seats (72%) and 142 seats (80%) in the State Duma (lower house of parliament) and the Federal Council (upper house), respectively.
President Putin, who has been gaining support, is not slowing down his crackdown on opposition forces.
Alexei Navalny, who is serving his sentence, has been out of contact for 10 days following President Putin’s official declaration of candidacy for president on the 8th. Navalny is considered a representative political opponent of President Putin.
Previously, President Putin implemented media control measures by changing the provisions of the election law and deciding to allow only registered media to cover the Election Commission meeting.
The Russian presidential election will be held from March 15th to 17th next year. Ukraine’s presidential election was originally scheduled for March 31 next year, about 15 days after the Russian presidential election, but it is unclear when it will be held.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.