Russians are urged to vote from Friday in the presidential election, which will last until Sunday, but the efforts of electoral authorities in Moscow to ensure that President Vladimir Putin can campaign without criticism has led to a situation bordering on the absurd, Reuters reports.

Putin, Russia’s longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin, acknowledged on Thursday that Russians were going through “tough times” but said the situation was caused by the war against the West in Ukraine and urged people to vote to express a “civic and patriotic stance.” position”.

But those unhappy with his leadership will have no real options to vote even for a faction, since all of Putin’s opponents are his supporters to some extent.

The Meduza investigative website wrote in August of last year that political scientists and Putin’s advisers in the Kremlin began to look for “straw men” to oppose him without particularly bothering him.

One of Meduza’s sources explained that Putin’s administration does not want to have a “surprise” in the presidential elections and the Kremlin hopes that he will win 80% of the vote against a turnout of 70%.

His presidential administration wants record results amid concerns that a weaker result could be seen as an indictment of the war in Ukraine or the way it is being fought.

Subsequently, Russia’s Central Election Commission disqualified all candidates who expressed the slightest criticism of the country’s leadership, citing various bureaucratic irregularities, such as problems with collected signatures.

Thus, in the next 3 days, Russians will have a choice between Vladimir Putin and the following 3 “counter-candidates”:

A communist who cannot find fault with Putin

Mykola Kharitonov, a 75-year-old member of the State Duma, is the official candidate of the Russian Communists, who have come second in every presidential election since 2000, but each time at a considerable distance from Putin.

For example, Kharitonov ran for president once in 2004, when he won 13.8% of the vote against 71.91% for Putin. An opinion poll published in February found that about 4% of Russians said they would vote for him again.

Kharitonov, a Siberian by origin, previously stated that he could not find fault with the Kremlin leader.

“He (Putin) himself is responsible for his work cycle, why should I criticize him?” said the candidate from the Communists, TASS quotes. Kharitonov is also a supporter of the “special operation” in Ukraine.

The only thing he criticized the country’s leadership was against some policies proposed by Putin’s United Russia party, but never against the Kremlin.

Kharitonov enjoys the support of the much more famous Gennady Zyuganov, the “eternal candidate” from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, who decided not to participate in the elections this time because he was 79 years old.

Kharitonov (left) with Zyuganov (PHOTO: AP / AP – The Associated Press / Profimedia)

Ultranationalists campaign with Zhirynovsky’s headquarters

56-year-old Leonid Slutsky is another veteran of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, the leader of the LDPR, which, despite its name, is an ultra-nationalist political party.

Slutsky took over the leadership of the party after Volodymyr Zhirynovsky, a well-known nationalist leader who led it for 3 decades, died in April 2022.

Although Slutsky is one of the politicians regularly invited on Russian television to express his anti-Western views, he still lives in the shadow of the late Zhirinovsky, known for years for his bellicose statements about Russia’s neighbors as well as countries like Romania. and the Republic of Moldova.

“Zhyrinovsky lives!” Slutsky chose this slogan for his election campaign.

An opinion poll last month showed that he, like Kharitonov, could hope to get 4 percent of the vote.

Slutsky has been the chairman of the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee for many years and says that Russia must win the war in Ukraine. One of the topics of his election campaign was related to the rise in food prices, he spoke about the need to fight inflation of basic products.

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In 2018, Slutsky was accused by a group of Russian journalists of sexual harassment, but a parliamentary commission acquitted him of the said facts. His accusers said that the Russian parliament covered up the case.

Slutsky at Zhirynovsky’s funeral (PHOTO: Kommersant photo agency / ddp USA / Profimedia)

A liberal, awarded by Vladimir Putin himself

Vladyslav Davankov is the deputy chairman of the State Duma and a member of the New People party, co-founded in 2020 by his father, a Russian businessman.

At 40, Davankov is the youngest presidential candidate in Russia and the recipient of numerous Russian state honors and awards, including from Vladimir Putin himself.

Davankov declared that he would not criticize his political opponents during the election campaign, and chose “Yes – to change!” as the slogan of his candidacy. and “Time of new people!”.

He tried to present himself as an opponent of the sharp restriction of personal freedoms and, in the context of Russian politics, as a more liberal person.

Without mentioning Ukraine by name, Davankov said that he advocates “peace and negotiations”, but “on our terms and without concessions”. A February poll showed that 5% of Russians said they would be ready to vote for him.

Davankov during a pre-election visit to Yekaterinburg (PHOTO: Kommersant Photo Agency / ddp USA / Profimedia)

Presidential elections in Russia will be held for the first time within 3 days

On December 8, the Central Election Commission in Moscow adopted a resolution according to which the presidential elections this year will be held for the first time in Russia within 3 days.

“I am putting to the vote a draft resolution on the organization of voting in the elections of local residents in the Russian Federation, scheduled for March 17, 2024, for a period of three days,” Ella Pamfilova, the head of the election commission, said at the time. , at the meeting where the decision was made.

Although Russia has never held a three-day presidential election before, Pamfilova said before the meeting that multi-day voting “is becoming traditional in the Russian Federation” — a possible reference to the 2020 referendum on constitutional changes, Russia’s last election. .

Russians were able to vote in a referendum within a week, allowing Putin to “reset” the number of his presidential terms to stay in power until 2036. The Kremlin leader signed the referendum law a year ago Late.

The decision to hold this year’s presidential election over three days came just a day after the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, set it for March 17.

A resolution passed by the Moscow Election Commission states that Saturday is considered the “main day” of voting, but polling stations will be open from Friday.

The Russian presidential election will begin with the opening of polling stations in the Russian Far East on Friday at 08:00 local time (Thursday at 20:00 Kyiv time) and will conclude in Kaliningrad on Sunday at 18:00 Kyiv time.