Putin enjoys landslide victory for now, but he and Russia ‘will have to change’

by Dramelin 4:30 AM 0 comments

Putin`s win means the 65-year-old former KGB agent will remain in power until at least 2024.
Speaking after his victory was confirmed, the strongman leader didn`t rule out constitutional reform in order to run for the presidency again.
Currently, Russia only allows presidents to run for two terms consecutively.
In 2012, the presidential term was extended from four to six years.
"At the moment I have no plans to carry out any constitutional reform.
As far as the head of the government is concerned, and the government as a whole, I`ve already said that I am of course thinking about it, but I will start thinking substantively from today because I needed to wait for the election results, but all changes will be announced after the elections," he said.
There have been widespread reports of electoral irregularities in parts Russia, but the election committee said it had not registered "serious complaints about violations" as yet and there were "twice as few reported electoral violations" than in 2012, Reuters reported.
Furthermore, Putin`s seven opponents fared badly.
His nearest competitor, Pavel Grudinin from the Communist Party, garnered just under 12 percent of the vote while others candidates gained just single-digit shares.
Alexei Navalny, Putin`s most prominent challenger and perhaps the only serious threat to his authority, was barred from running for the presidency after he was convicted for fraud — a charge widely seen as politically motivated.
Ahead of the 2018 election, Navalny led protests against Putin and called on Russians to boycott the election, saying the electoral process was corrupt.
Speaking after the vote, Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin said that Navalny "was right" about electoral corruption.
"We very well understand that unfortunately (Alexei) Navalny was right and it is indeed possible to vote two, three times," he said.
"And we have seen such cases in the Moscow region.
It`s clear that the vote count, the whole of the election procedure, was unfair.
" Videos are circulating on Twitter showing alleged voting irregularities, such as the obscuring of polling station cameras.
Navalny retweeted a similar video as he dismissed the election result on Twitter, saying it was as they predicted, but has yet to call for protests.