As of: March 16, 2024, 9:24 p.m
By: Florian Naumann, Christian Stör, Daniel Dillmann
Comments
Press
Split
Voting will take place in Russia for three days and Vladimir Putin is the winner.
There are protests and arrests on the second day of voting.
The news ticker.
Voter turnout
in
Russia
: Authorities surprise with first water level
“United Russia”
party
: hacker attack during the Russian election
Putin
votes
and waves at the camera: Russia's president cast his vote online
Russia
elects
president
: incumbent Vladimir Putin demands a clear result and high voter turnout
Update from March 16, 9:20 p.m.:
On the second day of the Russian election, there are increasing reports of election manipulation on the one hand - and of protests and arrests on the other.
Already by morning, 15 criminal cases had been opened for “obstructing the work of election commissions,” the
Meduza
portal reported , citing
Novaya Gazeta
.
A large screen in Moscow is supposed to evaluate the election process in Russia - there are protests over Vladimir Putin's election.
© Montage: Imago/dpa/picture-alliance/Ilya Pitalev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool/fn
Allegations of fraud in elections in Russia: Alleged ban on folding ballot papers
There are known cases of people pouring substances into ballot boxes to make counting impossible.
But Meduza
also reported cases in which voters wrote words like “boycott” in voter rolls or on ballot papers.
The regime in Moscow apparently wants to prevent further protests: Readers apparently told the portal that they had received messages from bots on messenger services that accused them of supporting “extremist ideas” and asked them to vote “without waiting in line” – probably a reference to the one on Sunday planned campaign “Lunch against Putin”.
Others affected allegedly said they were not allowed to fold ballot papers;
At the same time, “guards” were set up next to ballot boxes.
According to Meduza,
a member of an electoral commission tried
to put things into perspective: they were simply asked not to fold the pieces of paper so that they could be “accepted by the scanning device”.
The Russian NGO “Golos” has meanwhile published a video from a polling station in the Krasnodar region that is said to show a woman putting several ballot papers into an urn, so-called “vote stuffing”.
Attacks on Russia during Putin's elections: Voters react inconsistently
Update from March 16, 7:15 p.m.:
Attacks on the Belgorod and Kursk regions overshadow the carefully staged elections to confirm Vladimir Putin as Russia's president: According to authorities, two people were killed by Ukrainian shelling in the city of Belgorod on Saturday.
Several Ukrainian attacks with drones, rockets and cruise missiles on Belgorod and the Kursk border region were repelled throughout the day.
In addition, Russian troops prevented the penetration of “Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups” into Russia.
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Mishaps in the Russian election: First day is disastrous for Putin
In the Belgorod and Kursk regions, attacks by pro-Ukrainian fighters had increased in recent days shortly before the start of the Russian presidential election.
Kremlin leader Putin had promised a decisive response and threatened that the attacks “would not go unpunished”.
The
AFP
news agency transmitted voices from Russia, some of them concerned voters.
In the Moscow suburb of Sergiev Posad, 87-year-old Inessa Roshkova said she hoped for an end to the conflict with Ukraine: "Can you imagine how many people have died?" "They are trying to intimidate us, but this is a nation that "You can't make people afraid," explained 68-year-old Elena Kirsanova, who cast her vote for Putin at a vocational school.
Election in Russia: Authorities surprise with first voter turnout level
Update from March 16, 4:27 p.m.:
In the run-up to the Russia election, the Kremlin seemed to be worried about voter turnout - now the authorities are reporting high numbers early on.
At 4 p.m. Moscow time (2 p.m. CET) on Saturday, more than one in two eligible voters had already cast their vote either at a polling station or online, said the deputy head of the Russian Election Commission, Nikolai Bulayev, according to the Interfax agency.
The election lasts three days and ends on Sunday.
However, independent observers point to systematic fraud.
For example, employees of state-owned companies are reportedly being pushed to the polls in large numbers.
According to independent media, hundreds of companies have already published group photos of their employees in front of each polling station on social networks.
Videos also showed how people were brought in droves on buses to voting locations.
There were also reports of great pressure on Ukrainian people to take part in illegal voting in the occupied territories in the attacked country.
Overview of voter turnout in Russian elections
Year |
Result |
2000 |
68.6% |
2004 |
64.3% |
2008 |
69.7% |
2012 |
65.3% |
2018 |
67.5% |
“Noon against Putin”: Large protest planned for the Russian election on Sunday
Update from March 16, 2:28 p.m.:
Kremlin critics want to disrupt the elections in Russia with a large protest on Sunday in Moscow.
Under the motto “Lunchtime against Putin,” crowds of people are expected to show up at the polling stations and form long lines.
The aim is to draw attention to the discontent in the country.
Potential participants from Moscow are now receiving warning messages in advance.
It includes a request to take part in the election “quietly” – “without queues and provocations”.
Dead people are campaigning for Putin in the Russian election: astonishing call on social media
Update from March 16th, 2 p.m.:
Inactive accounts are apparently also being used on the Russian social media service VKontakte in the Russian election to encourage people to take part.
According to the independent portal
Meduza,
hundreds of posts with the hashtag #AsAFamily appeared on the platform on Friday.
This means that people in Russia have been called upon to take part in the election and in some cases have even been asked to vote for Putin.
In all cases, the accounts are said to have been inactive for years - sometimes even for more than a decade.
One of the accounts belonged to a resident of St. Petersburg who died in 2010 at the age of 34.
Putin's results in the previous Russian elections with him as a candidate
Year |
Result |
|---|---|
2000 |
52.9% |
2004 |
71.3% |
2012 |
64.4% |
2018 |
76.7% |
Hacker attack during the Russian election
Update from March 16, 9:30 a.m.:
In the middle of the Russian election, the “United Russia” party, which supports President Putin, reports a hacker attack on its website.
The party said it was the target of a “denial of service” attack that paralyzed its online presence.
All non-essential services have been suspended.
Putin has accused Ukraine of trying to sabotage the election.
Update from March 16, 6:30 a.m.:
Russia is entering the second day of the presidential election today.
Although the opposition is barred from the election, Russian authorities are nervously monitoring how two years of Ukraine war and domestic repression will affect approval ratings for Vladimir Putin.
Russian election: Putin speaks of “senseless attempts to disrupt” Ukraine in Belgorod
Update from March 15, 10:05 p.m.:
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has described the new attacks from the Ukrainian side on the Russian border region of Belgorod on the first day of the presidential election as a senseless attempt to disrupt.
“I am convinced that our people, the people of Russia, will respond to this with even greater solidarity,” Putin said on Friday during a video link with representatives of the National Security Council.
The people in the multi-ethnic state would not allow themselves to be intimidated, said the president.
He wants to be confirmed in office for the fifth time in the vote scheduled for Sunday.
The 71-year-old voted online from his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo near Moscow.
Numerous civilians were injured in the attacks against the Russian border region of Belgorod and also against the Kursk region that have been ongoing for several days.
Putin announced help for the victims of the attacks.
Ukraine deployed more than 2,500 fighters for the terrorist acts of sabotage, with losses around 60 percent, Putin said.
In addition, 35 tanks and around 40 armored military vehicles were deployed.
With these attacks, Ukraine is once again trying to distract from the defeats in its own country.
Election in Russia: Putin casts his vote and waves at the camera
Update from March 15, 9:35 p.m.:
Russian President Vladimir Putin cast his vote online on the first day of the presidential election in his country.
Footage distributed by the Kremlin showed the longtime Russian leader walking to a desk and sitting at a computer against a backdrop of two Russian flags, before the message "Thank you, you voted successfully" appeared on the screen.
The Kremlin chief then waves at the camera.
Update from March 15, 7:25 p.m.:
UN Secretary General António Guterres has criticized the votes for the Russian presidential election in the areas of Ukraine occupied in violation of international law.
Guterres reminds us that the attempt to illegally annex these regions of Ukraine is not valid under international law, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Friday in New York.
“The United Nations remains steadfastly committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.”
Elections have begun in Russia: Putin is already receiving “congratulations”
Update from March 15, 5 p.m.:
The presidential elections in Russia are ongoing.
Because the winner of this much-criticized vote has basically been determined, EU Council President Charles Michel sent ironic congratulations to Moscow as a precaution.
“I would like to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his landslide victory in the elections starting today,” Michel mocked on the X (formerly Twitter) platform.
“No opposition.
No freedom.
No choice,” he added.
And Russia's power apparatus itself isn't making too much effort to maintain the illusion of an exciting election: preparations for Putin's big victory celebration this Monday have been underway on Red Square for days.
Protests against Putin's sham election also in Germany
Update from March 15th, 3:30 p.m.:
There are also apparently protests by exiled Russians in Germany against Putin and the election in Russia.
Supporters of the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have called for a “lunch against Putin” in Berlin, among others.
The “FreeNavalny” alliance told IPPEN.MEDIA
that they plan to appear at polling stations with flash mobs and disrupt the voting process
.
Belgorod border region under fire on the first day of elections in Russia
Update from March 15, 10:02 a.m.:
The border region of Belgorod came under fire from Ukraine on the first day of the Russian election.
This was announced by the Russian state news agency
Ria Novosti
.
Seven rockets were fired.
Many people would have had to leave the polling stations.
According to
Tass
, all polling stations in Russia are now open.
Update from March 15, 8:35 a.m.:
Security authorities in Moscow announced a tough crackdown on any protest at the start of the election in Russia.
This is reported by the
Moscow Times
news portal and refers directly to the capital's public prosecutor's office.
It announced in a statement that all participants in “unauthorized mass events” surrounding the three-day presidential election would face immediate arrest.
“Neither free nor fair” - West speaks of vote manipulation in Russia election
Update from March 15, 7:50 a.m.:
Western foreign policy experts have described the elections in Russia as “neither free nor fair.”
This emerges from a letter signed by the chairmen of the foreign committees from more than 20 countries and quoted from the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
.
The statement was initiated by the chairmen of the foreign committees in the Baltic states and by Michael Roth (SPD), the chairman of the corresponding committee in the Bundestag.
Election in Russia begins: 112 million people called to the polls
First report from March 14, 2024:
Moscow - 112 million eligible voters in an election that lasts three days and spans eleven time zones.
The Russia election is one of the biggest ballots of 2024, but the winner has long been determined.
President Vladimir Putin is heading for his fifth term in office.
The 71-year-old politician, who has held various positions at the helm of Russia since 2000, has long since silenced the opposition.
Real opposing candidates are not allowed in the Russia election.
So it's hardly surprising that Vladimir Putin is dominating the polls for the Russian election.
The only thing that remains unclear is the outcome with which the president will be confirmed in office.
Two other factors are likely to become much more important for the Kremlin.
Can the president announce a new record result after the election?
In his first victory in 2000, Putin only received 52.9 percent of the total vote.
In the last Russian election it was 76.7 percent.
This time the result should be north of 80 percent.
The other important factor for Vladimir Putin in the Russian election is voter turnout.
The president is trying by all means possible to drive this up.
A high level of participation is intended to preserve the appearance of democratic structures and to consolidate Putin's sole claim to leadership in the middle of the Ukraine war.
The highest voter turnout since the 2000s was in the election in which it was not Putin who was running, but rather his confidant Dmitri Medvedev: In 2008, 69.7 percent of all those eligible took part in the election.
Putin achieved his best result in this statistic in his first election in 2000, when 68.6 percent went to the polls.
Due to numerous repressions against any opposition, little resistance or protest against the Russian election is to be expected.
However, neither is completely ruled out.
Particularly in the country's western metropolises such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg, individual actions could disrupt the election process.
Navalnaya calls for protests against Putin in the Russian election
Julija Navalnaya, among others, called for protests against Putin's election.
The widow of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who recently died in a prison camp, called on people in Russia to all go to the polling station on the same day and at the same time.
This could overload the polling stations and send a signal of democratic resistance in an undemocratic election.
Navalnaya titled the call “Lunch against Putin”.
How many people will ultimately dare to express criticism of Putin in the context of the Russia election remains to be seen.
In recent years, the power apparatus in the Kremlin has pushed forward the country's transformation into an authoritarian state.
Criticism of Putin or the war in Ukraine is punishable by prison.
Nevertheless, despite warnings from the authorities, thousands of people attended Navalny's funeral and used the funeral to silently protest against Putin.
The president himself spoke on Thursday (March 14), one day before the start of the Russia election.
“Let me say clearly that taking part in the elections today is a demonstration of patriotism,” Putin said
on Russian state TV , according to a report by
AFP .
Russia election also takes place in occupied parts of Ukraine
The presidential election begins on Friday (March 15) but not only in Russia.
People in the occupied territories of Ukraine should also confirm Vladimir Putin in office.
Around 4.5 million people are called to vote there.
In addition, around two million people abroad can take part in the Russian election.
The polling stations close on Sunday at 7 p.m. German time.
A result is announced in the hours afterwards.
(dil)