Putin secures 87% of votes, with 50% counted
Navalnaya vows to “keep fighting”
Zelensky dismisses the election as a “mockery”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has virtually secured a fifth term in office, receiving overwhelming support in the 2024 Russian presidential election.
According to Reuters on March 17 (local time), the Russian Central Election Commission announced that with just over 50% of the votes counted, Putin has a vote rate of 87.34%. The remaining three candidates failed to surpass 5%.
The nationwide voter turnout for the 2024 Russian presidential election, which lasted three days from the 15th, was 74.22%, exceeding the previous (2018) turnout of 67.5%.
In his speech after virtually securing his fifth term, President Putin stated that Russia needs to strengthen its military. He also promised to do everything he could to support Ukraine’s military operation. Furthermore, he mentioned that the noon protests had no impact and stressed that those responsible for damaging ballots should be prosecuted.
Supporters of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who died in prison, protested against Putin on the last day of the presidential election.
On Instagram, Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, wrote, “I sincerely thank those who stood with me at the polling stations from noon today for six hours,” and vowed to “keep fighting.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video speech, “The Russian dictator is mimicking another election,” and claimed, “There is no legitimacy in such election mimicry. This man should be tried in The Hague.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC), which deals with war crimes, issued an arrest warrant for President Putin, who invaded Ukraine, in March last year.
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