A vote bereft of legal standing?
A majority of Russians approved amendments to Russia’s constitution in a week-long vote that ended on Wednesday, allowing President Vladimir Putin to hold power until 2036.
Although there was widespread reports of pressure on voters and other irregularities, this did not hinder the turnout of elections.
A plebiscite was envisaged as amendments in the constitution gave Putin a landslide victory.
A massive propaganda campaign and the opposition’s failure to mount a coordinated challenge helped Putin get the result he wanted, but the plebiscite could end up eroding his position because of the unconventional methods used to boost participation and the dubious legal basis for the balloting.
Moscow, officials quickly announced full preliminary results showing 80% of voters supported the amendments, and in other parts of the Far East, they said over 70% of voters backed the changes.
Kremlin critics and independent election observers questioned official figures.
“We look at neighboring regions, and anomalies are obvious — there are regions where the turnout is artificially [boosted], there are regions where it is more or less real,” Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the independent election monitoring group Golos, told The Associated Press.
President Putin has been in power for more than two decades.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shows his passport to a member of an election commission as he arrives to take part in voting at a polling station in Moscow, on July 1, 2020. Alexei Druzhinin—Kremlin Pool Photo/AP
The vote completes a convoluted saga that began in January when Putin first proposed the constitutional changes. There was speculation he might seek to become a parliamentary speaker or chairman of the State Council when his presidential term ends in 2024.
The possibility of a plebiscite was envisaged as amendments in the constitution by the kremlins was said to appease the majority, giving Putin a landslide victory.
The amendments, which also emphasize the primacy of Russian law over international norms, outlaw same-sex marriages and mention “a belief in God” as a core value, were quickly passed by the Kremlin-controlled legislature..
