Russia ends a turbulent election campaign after the death of Alexei Navalny and the omnipotent presence of Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin ended his election campaign on Thursday with the clear aim of perpetuating six more years in the Kremlin, something more than likely, according to all polls, while calls increase for the West not to recognize the results of the presidential elections.

The campaign has been turbulent, marked by the death of Alexei Navalny in a remote Arctic prison, and with Putin focused on bolstering his image as supreme commander of the armed forces amid an offensive in Ukraine’s Donbass. He also focused on promoting the importance of accelerating production in the military industry, where, by some estimates, 3.5 million people.

“The world must assume once and for all that Putin is not what he seems. He is in fact a usurper, a tyrant, a war criminal and a murderer“said Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the late Navalny, in an article published this week in the “Washington Post”.

The 112 million Russians called to vote They will be able to vote for three days – Friday, Saturday and Sunday -, an option introduced during the pandemic, which the opposition considers fraudulent, as well as electronic voting, which can be exercised by a third of the electorate.

Putin addressed Russians on television on Thursday to convince them to vote in the elections, which he described as a “step towards the future” and stressed that soldiers fighting in Ukraine “defending the homeland with courage and heroism and participating in the elections, They set an example for all of us.”

Historic victory for Putin, according to polls

Although more than half of Russians support the opening of peace negotiations with Ukraine and successes on the Ukrainian battlefield come in dribs and drabs, Putin has a voting intention of over 80%.

The presidential administration informed the press he was looking for a historic victory to support the Kremlin’s militaristic line and everything indicates that he will succeed, given that Putin has never won an election with more than 77% of the votes.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) only three candidates registered, none of them are real opponents: the communist Nikolai Kharitonov and the candidate of the New People, Vladislav Davankov, who have 6% of voting intentions, and the ultranationalist Leonid Slutski, who appears third in the running with 5%.

By reforming the clauses of the Constitution that prevented him from remaining in the Kremlin, Putin will be able to run again in the 2030 elections, when he will be 77 years old.

Voting in occupied territories

The president of the CEC, Ela Pamfilova, assured that “for the first time” the elections will be held “in a toxic international atmosphere” and accused Western countries of “an unprecedented cynical violation” of the voting rights of Russians living abroad.

“This is not just a presidential election, what is at stake is the fate of Russia, what to do in the future. By the way, to a large extent (these elections) will determine how the world will develop. The transition from unjust monopoly to egalitarian relations between countries,” he proclaimed.

Pamfilova, accused by the opposition of having manipulated the election results since she took office in 2016, announced in recent days The people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk will also voteand the regions of Zaporiya and Kherson, alluding to the four Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia.

Until 4.5 million residents In areas occupied by the Russian army, they will be able to exercise their right to vote even if they do not have Russian citizenship, many of whom have already voted in advance.

The Navalny factor

The high point of the campaign it was Navalni’s death in prison -and for which the family and the West blame Putin-, but the Kremlin hopes that this factor will not tarnish its victory.

“I think they killed him. It was a premeditated decision. I think they did it with poison“Guennadi Gudkov, a former Russian deputy in exile in Bulgaria, told EFE.

Gudkov, who worked in the Federal Security Service (FSB), believes that the authorities decided to take revenge on the opponent for “all the humiliations” to which he subjected them over the years with his corruption allegations.

“The organizer was Putin,” said Gudkov, who recalled that the initial plan was for Navalny to never get out of prison, but they changed their minds after admitting the pardon granted to tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in 2013 as a “big mistake” .

Not recognizing the results

For all these reasons, Navalnaya, jailed oppositionist Vladimir Kara-Murzá and Gudkov address Western leaders, parliaments and societies with a single request: who do not recognize “totally falsified” elections.whose only goal is to “maintain power”.

“The West should not recognize the results. Recognizing Putin as head of state after the elections will be a sign of weakness,” he said.

He assured it “there have never been such criminal elections in Russia”, as they take place when Russian troops violate international law and commit “war crimes” in Ukraine.

“We are not calling for the closure of embassies,” he said, adding that, at a minimum, Western countries “should not recognize the elections as legitimate.”