Vladimir Putin, back in power

Vladimir Putin claimed 63% of the votes in the early results today to win Russia’s presidential elections amid controversy surrounding deceitful tactics used by the victor.

Speaking to the rally outside Kremlin, the teary eyed President thanked his supporters for voting “yes to great Russia”. He also asserted his virtuousness declaring his victory in an “open and honest battle”.

“We have won in an open and honest battle,” Putin said. “But this has not just been a Russian presidential election but also a very important test for all of us, our entire people. This has been a test for political maturity and independence. We have shown that, indeed, no-one can impose anything on us.”

His victory however has caused massive uproar among the opposition as they accuse him of vote fraud giving his political party the unprecedented advantage.

The opposition movement, unhappy with the results amid the voting scandal during the Duma elections in December, warned they would be on the streets protesting against the regime. Ilya Yashin, one of the opposition leaders said: “There was a hypothesis that the authorities would this time allow honest election in Moscow because of the scandal with violations during the Duma elections in December, but his is being disproved. The scale of falsification we are seeing will destroy the last vestiges of trust between government and the people. Tomorrow we will be on the streets.”

Another leader Alexey Navalyn asserted Putin’s lack of “legitimate right” to be the President stating: “My supporters and I will use various peaceful means to ensure that this person, who has no legitimate right to hold this post, will not hold it for six years.”

The results of the 30% of polling stations put Mr Putin on the lead with 63.42% while his biggest threat came from the Communist Party leader, Gennady Zyuganov, who had secured a mere 17.25% giving the former a definite victory. Mikhail Prokhorov was third with 7.29% followed by Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Sergei Mironov with 7.19% and 3.72% respectively.

Mr Zyuganov too was dissatisfied with the results as he refused to “recognize the election as fair, honest and worthy.”

Retorting to the backlash caused by the Putin’s election campaign, Chief Stanislav Govorukhin responded labelling the election as “the cleanest in the Russian history”.

Rajeeb Gurung