It was supposed to be a plebiscite, and it was. Vladimir Putin he was elected president of Russia for the fourth time with nearly 76% of the vote.
After all, the only candidate who could have caused some concern for the Tsar is the blogger Alexei Navalny, had long since been excluded from the race. The other candidates, on the other hand, were little more than extras: the only one to get over 10% was Pavel Grudinin, a communist candidate; the others, except the ultranationalist Vladimir Žirinovsky, did not exceed 1,5%.
In short, Putin's victory has never been in question. If anything, from the Tsar's point of view, the most important datum for giving the plebiscite the outlines of triumph was that of theaffluence. And in this case the 70% target should not have been achieved. According to estimates by the state opinion poll center Vtsiom, it could stop at 63,7%. But this will only be known later, when the official data will be published.
Complaints have come from various parts of the country fraud and irregularities – many people are said to have voted multiple times – but were systematically ignored. Putin will remain in office until 2024, the year in which what, according to the Russian Constitution, should be his last mandate will end.
"Thank you: success is our destiny," said the President speaking to the crowd gathered at the Moscow riding school, a stone's throw from Red Square.
It certainly weighed on the result of these elections confrontation with Great Britain about the poisoning in Salisbury by Serghei Skripal, a former Russian secret agent, in a nerve gas attack of which the UK, EU and USA have accused Moscow in chorus. Putin's election campaign spokesman, Andrei Kondrashov, ironically thanked British Prime Minister Theresa May for boosting turnout: "Once again, Britain has not understood Russia's mentality: if they accuse us of something unfounded , the Russian people join the center of strength and the center of strength today is undoubtedly Putin”.
The Russian president himself then spoke openly about the Skripal case for the first time: “We have nothing to do with it, but we are still ready to cooperate with Great Britain. If it had been a military-grade nerve, Serghei Skripal would have died on the spot: we have destroyed our chemical arsenal while our partners have not yet done so. To believe that we could do such a thing before the elections and the world championships is really silly."
So far the only world leader to congratulate Putin has been the Chinese leader Xi Jinping, also fresh from re-election.
