With 99.8% of the votes counted by the Central Election Commission of Russia, Putin won with an overwhelming majority of 76.7% votes cast in his favor.
Incumbent Russian President and former KGB agent Vladimir Putin has extended his grip on Russia by winning the Presidency for another six-year term on Sunday.
At the time of writing, the Central Election Commission data showed 99.8% of the votes as counted, of which Putin won with a comfortable majority of 76.7%. His win means that Putin would continue to rule Russia till 2024.
With no serious challenger to pose any threat, Putin also enjoyed favorable coverage from the state media. Pavel Grudinin, the Communist Party candidate whom many declared as the nearest rival of Putin, was only able to grab 11.79% votes.
His win means that Putin, who has dominated the Russian power scene in one form or the other for the last 18 years, would become the longest-serving leader in Russia since Dictator Joseph Stalin.
How Putin Campaigned?
Unsurprisingly for a ‘’candidate’’ who had no serious challengers, Putin campaigned scarcely in the lead up to the election. So lackluster was his campaign that Putin gave a few TV interviews and presented even fewer if any, plans for domestic reforms.
Still, while not official, Putin had a campaign manifesto which told his voters that ‘’Russia is Under Attack’’, and that only a strong leader like Putin himself could save it. And with 56 million of the 110 million eligible Russia voters voting for him, it is now crystal clear that the Russian public respected Putin’s position.
What Next?
Barring any unforeseeable circumstance, Putin’s current term is scheduled to end in 2024, by which it Putin would have remained in power for a quarter a century.
Still, many analysts are of the opinion that once Putin completes his fourth term, he would be tempted to bid for more. After all, Putin has in front of him example of Xi Jinping, the Chinese President who has recently abolished time limit on his rule by amending the constitution of China.
And even if that doesn’t happen, another term for Putin means trouble for Europe which is facing strong headwinds of populism and nationalism.
