Russia’s “elections” are coming to an end – rumors of a protest on Sunday Aerial aid: German air force drops food for Gaza Strip

The Kremlin designed the vote to demonstrate its perceived high confidence in Vladimir Putin and support for his war against Ukraine. Putin (71) has dominated Russian politics for almost a quarter of a century. The vote is intended to secure him a fifth term until 2030.

However, according to independent experts on electoral law in Russia and abroad, the terms and conditions are neither free nor fair: the opposition is excluded and the three approved candidates are considered loyal to the Kremlin. Numerous reports indicate that pressure is being put on Russians to participate in the elections.

On Saturday afternoon, central election management reported that more than half of the approximately 114 million eligible voters had voted at polling stations or online. Even higher percentages were reported from many regions without this being verifiable.

Hope for a (large) protest around lunchtime

Several opposition forces have called on people to vote at exactly 12 noon local time on Sunday. The resulting lines at polling stations should give the impression that many people disagree with Putin and his policies. It is feared that this could lead to arrests. Authorities warned against taking part in the action, recognizing “signs of extremist activity.”

As several Russian media reported, citizens in Moscow whose critical attitudes were known to the authorities received warning messages from unknown senders on their mobile phones. According to the Meduza portal, they should go to the polls, “but without queues”.

Some smaller protests so far

In the first two days, there were several instances of people pouring paint into ballot boxes in protest to invalidate the ballots inside. In the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, a professor at a local university was arrested for such an attempt and sentenced to 15 days of detention. In other cases, higher penalties are imposed. Several arson attempts at polling stations were also reported. According to the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europa, fifteen cases had been filed on Saturday.

Russian election chief Ella Pamfilova said more than 210 ballots were destroyed by liquids poured into ballot boxes. The disruptive actions were reported from twenty Russian electoral regions. There were also eight arsons. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev described the perpetrators on Telegram as “traitors” who helped a foreign state during a war.

Stacks of ballots thrown into the urn

The independent election observation organization Golos fears manipulation of the results, especially with online voting and voting machines. A classic method of election fraud was also reported from Krasnodar in southern Russia on Saturday: a member of an election committee threw countless completed ballot papers into the urn.

The elections take place in the largest country in the world, spread across eleven time zones. Polling stations in the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad are the last to close on Sunday evening at 7pm CET. The alleged results of post-election surveys and the first counting results will then be published. The total count usually runs until Monday morning. An official final result should be known on March 28.

Occupied Ukrainian territories must also vote

There is particular international criticism that the sham elections are also taking place in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Russia annexed these areas in violation of international law. In the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, the election authority claimed that turnout had already reached 86.75 percent on Saturday evening. The Russian opposition, including Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in custody, is calling on foreign countries not to recognize Putin’s re-election. (sda/dpa/con)