20 March 2018 10:02 am
By Anton Troianovski, (c) 2018, The Washington Post · Mar 19, 2018 -
MOSCOW - Vladimir Putin cruised to victory Sunday for another six-year presidential term after an election that was long on spectacle and short on suspense. From the Arctic to the International Space Station, Russia rolled out an elaborate presidential-election-day display designed to show the breadth of Putin’s public support as he extended his tenure for a fourth term to 2024.
Putin’s opponents on Sunday’s ballot included a nationalist, a Communist, and two liberals. But Putin barely campaigned, opposition activist Alexei Navalny was barred from the ballot, and reports of ballot-stuffing and people ordered to vote by their employers rolled in throughout the day.
With about two thirds of the ballots counted, more than 75 percent were for Putin, according to the Central Election Commission. The runner up was Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin with 12.7 percent. “Success awaits us!” Putin told supporters in central Moscow. “Together, we will get to work on a great, massive scale, in the name of Russia.”
Putin himself cast his ballot at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Asked what result he was hoping for, he responded: “Any that gives me the right to fulfil the duty of president.”