Russian Federation: a presidential election hidden from view

Russians have been invited to vote since Friday March 15 for three days for the presidential election.

In the absence of any opposition, Vladimir Putin is destined to be re-elected triumphantly.

The election has never been so locked.

A man casts his ballot at a polling station during the Russian presidential election, in Donetsk, Ukraine, a territory controlled by Russia, March 15, 2024. © Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters

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This Friday morning, polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (8 p.m. GMT, Thursday) on the Kamchatka Peninsula and in Chukotka, two remote regions in the Russian Far East.

They will close at 8 p.m. on Sunday in Kaliningrad, a

Russian

enclave within the European Union.

Electronic voting

is deployed in 29 regions out of 83 in Russia – 83 as well as all occupied territories in Ukraine, including those annexed in 2022.

Russia is voting, once again, out of sight, with mobile ballot boxes brought by armed men.

Among the many firsts for this 2024 presidential edition, no observer and no independent NGO are present.

No party not admitted

to the competition is otherwise authorized in the polling stations.

“Transparent” elections, according to Russian television

The days when cameras broadcast operations live on the Electoral Commission website are over.

And above all, another first: Russians have a period of three days to vote.

And the bulletins will therefore remain, in the middle of the night, out of sight.

This Friday is a day when civil servants must vote en masse.

The latter are often asked to bring three people with them to the polling station and to send proof that they have exercised their civic duty to their superiors or to the human resources department.

Russian television has been repeating it for three days: “ 

transparent 

” elections are being organized.

Also listen to Denunciations, two years that changed Russia

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