Putin Wins Russian Presidency

Vladimir Putin will return to his role as Russia’s president. Putin, who served as president from 2000 to 2008, claimed nearly 60% of the vote on Sunday but some people claim that the election may have been rigged.

Putin said:

“I have promised that we would win and we have won!… We have won in an open and honest struggle.”

CBS reports that Putin was widely expected to win Sunday’s election but many feared that the vote would be manipulated. Golos, an independent election watchdog agency, said that it received several reports of “carousel voting.”

Lilia Shibanova, the head of Golos, said:

“There have been many people voting more than once, driven around in buses in large numbers.”

Putin stepped down from the presidency in 2008 but has remained the country’s paramount leader as Prime Minister. Last December, after allegations
of voter fraud in parliamentary elections, Russian citizens staged massive protests against Putin.

Putin installed cameras at more than 90,000 polling locations to fight the voting fraud accusations. Still, Golos said that it received more than 1000 complains of irregularities during Sunday’s vote. Golos also said that several of the new cameras were not working.

Mikhail Kasyanov, who was Putin’s first prime minister but now opposes Russia’s leader, said that Russia will protest the results of the election. Kasyanov said:

“These elections are not free … that’s why we’ll have protests tomorrow. We will not recognize the president as legitimate.”