Putin vote ‘problems’ concern election observer

Tonino Picula said “there was no real competition and abuse of government resources ensured that the ultimate winner of the election was never in doubt”.

Mr Picula headed the short-term observer mission of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

A brief synopsis of the mission’s findings did not address Russian independent observers’ claims that there were widespread cases of people casting multiple ballots, but said the election “process deteriorated during the vote count, which was assessed negatively in almost one-third of polling stations observed”.

Russia’s Central Elections Commission says Mr Putin, who was president from 2000-2008, got more than 63 per cent of the nationwide vote, but the independent Russian elections watchdog Golos says incomplete reports from its observers of individual polling station counts indicate he hovered perilously close to the 50 per cent mark needed for a first-round victory.

In a statement on the OSCE website, monitors said that while all candidates had been able to campaign freely, there had been “serious problems” from the start.

“The point of elections is that the outcome should be uncertain,” said Mr Picula. “This was not the case in Russia. There was no real competition and abuse of government resources ensured that the ultimate winner of the election was never in doubt.”

The OSCE observers’ conclusions may have significant bearing on whether Russia’s opposition forces will be able to maintain the momentum of the unprecedented large protests they were able to marshal in the past three months.

A protest rally in Moscow’s Pushkin Square attracted about 14,000 people, police said.

Mr Putin appeared to be in tears on election night as he announced his victory, defiantly proclaiming to a sea of supporters that they had triumphed over opponents intent on “destroying Russia’s statehood and usurping power”. The 59-year-old’s win was never in doubt, as many across the vast country still see him as a guarantor of stability and the defender of a strong Russia against a hostile world, an image he has carefully cultivated during 12 years in power.

Mr Putin claimed victory last night when fewer than a quarter of the votes had been counted. He spoke to a rally just outside the Kremlin walls of tens of thousands of supporters, many of them government workers or employees of state-owned companies who had been ordered to attend.

He said the election showed that “our people can easily distinguish a desire for renewal and revival from political provocations aimed at destroying Russia’s statehood and usurping power”.

He ended his speech with the triumphant declaration: “Glory to Russia!”

The West can expect Mr Putin to continue the tough policies he has pursued even as Prime Minister, including opposing US plans to build a missile shield in Europe and resisting international military intervention in Syria.

Communist Party candidate Gennady Zyuganov came a distant second, followed by Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team whose candidacy was approved by the Kremlin in what was seen as an effort to channel some of the protest sentiment.

Mr Putin will return to the presidency in May, replacing Dmitry Medvedev, until 2018.

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