With no expectations of a presidential replacement, Russian citizens go to the polls to begin a vast day of elections that will end on Sunday, March 17. In the country there are more than 112 million people qualified to vote. At 16:30 (Moscow time) the Russian share reached 24.41%. Ink attacks at the polls have been reported at polling stations, while the Ukrainian offensive hits more Russian areas.
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Vladimir Putin will continue in power until 2030. These are the projections for the Russian presidential elections that began across the country this Friday, March 15. Without opposition, the current president of the largest country in the world seeks his re-election for a fifth six-year term.
Polling stations opened this Friday morning in the 89 regions and 11 time zones of the vast country. According to the authorities, more than 27 million Russians have already voted on the first of three days of election day. In total, more than 112 million people are eligible to vote.
This is the first time that Russians will be able to make their choice for several days and in the modality they prefer: in person or online.
“Personally, I believe that the election of the president of the country is a very important event for all residents of our state. It depends on who and how will govern the country and who will develop it for my future family,” said Vitaly Golube, a young man who is voting for the first time.
Voters will be able to choose between four candidates: current President Vladimir Putin, who is running as an independent candidate; the vice-president of the State Duma (Lower House of Parliament), Vladislav Davankov, candidate of the New People's party; Leonid Slutsky, candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) and Nikolay Kharitonov, candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPFR).
However, the current president, according to the latest polls, has a voting intention of more than 80%, which would give him the victory with the most support since he came to power in 2000.
Read alsoPutin, the face of Russian power in the 21st century, on his way (again) to winning the elections
Elections are also taking place in Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, the four Ukrainian territories annexed in September 2022, as well as in the annexed Crimean peninsula.
Attacks reported at polling stations
Before the start of the day, the electoral authorities warned that they are prepared to protect themselves from cyber attacks that may occur against voting systems. This is because 12 million external hacking attacks have been recorded on the website of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Russia since the start of the election campaign.
“We see this as an attack on Russian democracy because it involves the direct participation of intelligence services.” [externos]”Maxim Grigoriev, head of the working group of the Russian Civic Chamber, told local media.
The president of the Commission, Ela Pamfilova, also reported the increasing cases of attacks on the ballot boxes with inks and other liquids. Pamfilova assured that they would be “actions with elements of terrorism.”
“They have all been arrested and others who dare to try will also be arrested,” he warned.
In the middle of the elections, the Ukrainian offensive advances
This week, Ukraine launched one of its biggest attacks in two years of war. With drones that reached more than 700 kilometers from the border between both countries, impacting an important oil refinery, as well as buildings in Moscow. Even with a land incursion by pro-Ukrainian militiamen.
This Friday, Russian authorities reported that several citizens were injured in attacks by kyiv against polling stations in Kherson.
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked facilities in the city of Kakhovka and the village of Briliovka, in the Alyoshkinsky district, where the polling station commissions were located,” the local Electoral Commission published in a statement.
The attacks were also reported in the Russian border city of Belgorod, where one person was killed and two others were injured by a new Ukrainian bombing.
The governor of the region, Viacheslav Gladkov, reported that the air defense system managed to shoot down 10 targets that had approached the city. The injured, he said, were hospitalized.
'They are trying to torpedo the elections'
For Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine's growing offensive in recent days, as well as those recorded on the first day of voting, is an attempt to torpedo the ongoing electoral process.
“The neo-Nazi regime in kyiv has conceived and is attempting to carry out a series of blatantly criminal armed attacks aimed at disrupting the voting process and intimidating the population in the regions bordering Ukraine. It is mainly about attacking civilian settlements on Russian territory,” Putin said in a video conference of the Russian Security Council.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov also denounced kyiv's intentions, which, he said, “are linked in one way or another to casting shadows on the elections and destabilizing the situation.”
With Reuters, EFE, AP, local media.
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