As expected, #Russian #president #vladimirputin has won his fifth term in office, following a #campaign in which all his #significant #rivals were barred from running, imprisoned, or dead. #Voting started Friday and #concluded Sunday. Putin won the contest with over 87 percent of the vote, with a reported 77 #percent turnout. The #record post-Soviet win was Putin’s choreographed attempt to demonstrate his popularity — and that of the war in #ukraine . But it is #impossible to take much away, given the level of #repression in Russian #society and Putin’s #ambition to make #himself synonymous with the Russian state. Putin also systematically undermined or #eliminated #political #opposition , #cementing his hold on power not just through a #popular #narrative about Russia’s #national identity, but also with #election fraud, murder, poisonings, draconian jail sentences, and other political repression. Over the past year, the Kremlin quashed multiple #attempts to #compete #against him in this weekend’s elections. Though three #competitors did stand in this year’s contest, they were all state-backed and #lacked any real #popular support. There were #multiple true opposition candidates with demonstrated popular support — like Boris #Nadezhdin , an anti-war #candidate — who #attempted to stand against Putin this year but were barred from doing so. Now, almost anyone who would vocally oppose or# present an alternative to #Russian propaganda has been #silenced or has fled.
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