Preliminary results are expected to appear after the closing of the last polling station in the Leningrad region (French)

Russian voters cast their votes today, Sunday, on the third and final day of elections expected to result in a major victory for President Vladimir Putin. The opposition called for a protest movement today under the slogan “Noon against Putin.”

In front of three other unknown candidates, Putin - who has held power, whether as president or prime minister since 1999 - is preparing to win a new six-year presidential term, and if he completes it, he will become the longest-serving ruler in Russia for more than 200 years.

The first estimates and results of the voter opinion poll conducted by the Vetsium State Institute are expected to be released shortly after the last polling stations close at seven o'clock GMT in the Kaliningrad region.

The Kremlin seeks to record a high turnout rate, and when polling stations opened at the beginning of the third day in western Russia, officials said that the turnout rate in the first two days had already reached 60% nationwide.

Opposition voice

Opponents of the Russian President will try to make their voices heard, defying the warnings of the authorities, and calling on their supporters to go to the polls and vote en masse during the afternoon.

The opposition denounces the repression operations that culminated weeks ago with the death of opposition figure Alexei Navalny in mysterious circumstances in a prison in a remote region of the Russian Arctic.

Although the opposition does not have any opportunity to influence the vote, it seeks to show its presence, as happened during Navalny's funeral, when crowds honored him in Moscow.

Voters line up in front of a polling station in Moscow (French)

Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, called on his supporters to go to the polls at the same time this afternoon, and give their votes to any candidate other than Putin.

Other opponents of Putin, such as exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky - who lives in the United Kingdom - also called on people not to be afraid and participate in the campaign.

The move comes to express opposition without being exposed to the risk of arrest, because protesters will line up to vote legally, and the Kremlin has warned against participating in gatherings without permits.

War in the background

The elections have not witnessed any notable violations so far, except for some isolated incidents, such as pouring paint into the ballot boxes and trying to set fire to one of the boxes as well, without revealing the reasons behind these acts, the perpetrators of which were imprisoned.

The elections come just over two years after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, which Putin described as a defensive "special military operation."

The war overshadowed the voting process, as Ukraine launched repeated attacks over the past few days on oil refineries in Russia with drones and bombed Russian areas, and sought to penetrate the Russian borders using forces loyal to Kiev, in a move that Putin said would not go unpunished, and the West warned that... Any interference in the voting process will be considered a hostile act.

Putin received a record percentage of the votes of 77% in the 2018 elections, and the voter turnout reached 67.5%.

The Kremlin intends to achieve a large result and a similar turnout this time in order to present its victory as evidence that the country is united behind the war in Ukraine and Putin's confrontation with the West.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies