The Kremlin will try to ensure that the re-election of Russian President Vladimir Putin takes place with more than 80% of the vote in the elections scheduled for March 2024, the independent news portal Meduza reported on Tuesday, citing official sources.
“The goal they have set for us is simple: to get more than 80% of the vote in the presidential election,” said a senior regional official.
Putin’s best election result was 76.69% of the vote in 2012, when he returned to the Kremlin (Russian presidency), after four years as prime minister.
The Russian president’s team believes that the war in Ukraine is not progressing as planned could affect Putin’s landslide victory in next year’s elections.
“The result will be guaranteed in several ways: mobilization of supporters of the president; administrative and corporate mobilization; electronic voting,” said another source close to the Russian presidency, quoted by the Meduza portal.
According to a recent poll, 76.1% of Russians approve of Putin’s management as head of state, despite setbacks such as the failed armed uprising that took place on June 24 and was led by the head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
To get President Putin re-elected, the Kremlin is counting on the impact on public opinion of the major exhibition to be held in Moscow between November and April 2024.
According to the Védomosti newspaper, Putin could announce his re-election at the opening of the event, which will take Russia’s name to the whole world and reveal the country’s achievements since the current Kremlin tenant came to power , in 2000.
There is also the possibility that Putin will announce his candidacy at the end of the year at an event where he will have the opportunity to answer questions from his compatriots.
Despite the ongoing military offensive in Ukraine, Russia plans to hold local elections on September 10 throughout the national territory, including in the annexed Ukrainian regions: Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporijia.
Last February, Putin assured that “both the local and regional elections in September this year and the presidential elections in 2024 will be held in strict accordance with the law, respecting all constitutional democratic procedures”.
Source: DN
