Putin extends one-man rule in Russia after stage-managed election devoid of credible opposition

President Vladimir Putin has tightened his grip on the country he has ruled since the turn of the century, winning Russia’s stage-managed election by an overwhelming majority in a result that was a foregone conclusion.

Putin won 87.3% of the vote on a record turnout of 77.5%, the Central Election Commission (CEC) reported Monday after all the ballots from the three-day presidential vote were counted.

The result means Putin will rule until at least 2030, when he will be 77. Russia’s longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, he will secure a third full decade of rule.

The candidates allowed to oppose Putin were carefully curated by the Kremlin. His nearest rival, Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party, had won just 4.3% of the ballots counted.

The result was inevitable – Putin’s spokesman said last year that the vote was “not really democracy” but “costly bureaucracy” – but the ritual of elections is nonetheless crucially important to the Kremlin as a means of confirming Putin’s authority.

The ritual used to be held every four years, before the law was changed in 2008 to extend presidential terms to six years. Later constitutional changes removed presidential term limits, potentially allowing Putin to stay in power until 2036.

In a victory lap at his election headquarters late Sunday, Putin said the election had “consolidated” national unity and that there were “many tasks ahead” for Russia as it continues its course of confrontation with the West.

“No matter how hard anyone tries to frighten us, whoever tries to suppress us, our will, our consciousness, no one has ever managed to have done such a thing in history, and it won’t happen now and it won’t happen in the future. Never,” he said.

Putin on Navalny’s death

Putin’s fiercest opponents have died in recent months.

After leading a failed uprising in June, Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed two months later after his plane crashed while traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The Kremlin denied any involvement in Prigozhin’s death.

The elections were held a month after Alexey Navalny, Putin’s most formidable opponent, died in an Arctic penal colony. Navalny’s family and supporters have accused Putin of being responsible for his death, a claim rejected by the Kremlin.

In his Sunday evening address, Putin made an unprecedented break with his tradition of not uttering Navalny’s name, discussing his death and confirming discussions over a potential prisoner swap involving the opposition figure. Navalny’s allies had previously claimed he was “days away” from being exchanged before his death.

“As for Mr. Navalny – yes, he passed away. It is always a sad event. And there were other cases when people in prisons passed away. Didn’t this happen in the United States? It did, and not once,” he said.

Putin said a few days before Navalny’s death, he was told of a proposal to exchange him for prisoners held in Western countries. “The person who spoke to me had not finished his sentence yet when I said I agree,” Putin said. “But, unfortunately, what happened [Navalny’s death] happened. There was only one condition that we will exchange him for him not to come back. Let him sit there. Well, such things happen. There’s nothing you can do about it, that’s life.”

Acts of defiance

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, had urged Russians to turn out collectively as a show of opposition on Sunday, the final day of voting across Russia’s 11 time zones and 88 federal subjects. In the runup, the Kremlin warned against unsanctioned gatherings.

A CNN team in Moscow saw the line outside a polling station grow rapidly at midday as part of the so-called “Noon Against Putin” demonstrations inspired by Navalny. A woman waiting in line told CNN: “This is the first time in my life I have ever seen a queue for elections.” Asked why she had come at that hour, she replied: “You know why. I think everybody in this queue knows why.”

Similar protests were staged at Russian embassies across Europe, with large crowds gathering at noon in London, Paris and elsewhere. Navalnaya attended a demonstration in Berlin, waiting in line with other voters in a display of opposition.

The election was also marred by more graphic acts of defiance. As of Saturday, Russia had filed at least 15 criminal cases after people poured dye in ballot boxes, started fires or lobbed Molotov cocktails at polling stations. Ella Pamfilova, the head of Russia’s CEC, said 29 polling stations across 20 regions in Russia were targeted, including eight arson attempts.

More than 60 Russians were detained across at least 16 cities on the final day of voting, according to independent human rights group OVD-Info.