Russian President Vladimir Putin won the country’s election Sunday to remain in power as president, securing another six-year term.
In an unsurprising turnout, results from the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) poll showed the 71-year-old foreign leader winning roughly 87.8% of the vote, according to Reuters. While Putin secured a majority of the support from Russian voters, three other names were also on the ballot and gained some movement behind them. (RELATED: REPORT: Opposition Leader’s Former Chief Of Staff Left Bloodied After Hammer Attack, Blames Putin And His Goons)
Communist Nikolai Kharitonov is expected to hit an estimated 4.6-4.7%, with Deputy parliamentary speaker Vladislav Davankov projected to get somewhere in between 3.6%-4.2%, and Nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) Leonid Slutsky expected to sit in fourth place with roughly 2.5-3%, according to BBC.
In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with the Presidential Council for Science and Education via video link in Moscow on February 8, 2024. (Photo by ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Following his announced win, Putin spoke at his campaign headquarters stating, “Out of every voice, we are building a common will of the people of Russian Federation,” according to the BBC. The Russian president additionally thanked Russian residents’ for going out to the polls, as well as those “on the line of contact,” alluding to the soldiers fighting against Ukraine, the outlet reported.
“No matter how hard they tried to scare us, suppress our will, our conscience, no-one has ever succeeded in history. They failed now, and they will fail in the future,” Putin stated.
However, while Putin may have secured office till 2030, not all agreed with the world leader’s win. At least 80 people were reported by BBC to have been arrested for allegedly vandalizing polling stations, with the Russian Interior Ministry launching 33 criminal investigations into the incident.
“A large amount of work was carried out both from the point of view of documentation and from the point of view of preventing the entry of dyes and flammable liquids,” Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Gorov stated, according to the outlet.
The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalny, also notably spoke after casting her ballot at the Russia’s embassy in Berlin. Yulia posted to X (formerly known as Twitter) after voting, thanking those who waited 6 hours in line with her.
“Thank you very much, wonderful, best people who stood with me today from 12 noon for a whole 6 hours side by side in line at the polling station. Thank you for coming — crying, laughing. Thank you for endlessly shouting “Yulia, we are with you” and “Navalny” and telling me that I gave you back hope. In fact, of course, it’s the other way around, it’s not me, but you who give me hope that everything is not in vain, that we will still fight. Thank you to all of you who came out in every city around the world. You are my support and support. I love you all very much,” Navalny stated.