NOT SURPRISED

Putin Wins Another Term in Landslide Victory

He got over 76 percent of the vote, which has been scrutinized for violations across the country.

Vladimir Putin has won another six years in office, with the latest polling showing he got 76.6 percent of the vote with 95 percent of ballots counted. Reports of ballot-stuffing, forced votes, and other violations have been reported across Russia. Independent election monitor Golos counted 2,742 alleged violations, including “ballot boxes placed out of sight of observation cameras and observers being blocked from carrying out their job.” Putin’s opponents’ numbers were small: Pavel Grudinin of the Communist Party got 11.9 percent of the vote, nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky got 5.8 percent, and TV personality Ksenia Sobchak got 1.6 percent. The four remaining candidates all got less than 1 percent of the vote. After this win, Putin would not be eligible to run in the 2024 election without changing Russia’s constitution again. He told reporters that he is not “planning any constitutional reforms for now.” This will be Putin’s fourth term as Russia’s president.