VOICES IN: Vladimir Putin sings the Russian national anthem with children at VDNKh in Moscow on Thursday. Photo: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV / AFP / NTB
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman denies that the president will participate in debates before the election on 17 March.
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Less than 20 minutes ago
- Vladimir Putin will not participate in debates before the presidential election in Russia on March 17, according to the president’s spokesman.
- Putin has also not previously participated in debates with other candidates.
- He was first elected president in 2000 and is now running for another six years.
- Russian presidential elections are carefully rigged.
Sea view
– The president will not take part in debates before the election, Dmitriy Peskov told Russian journalists RIA.
On Monday, Vladimir Putin was officially registered as a candidate for the election. The Central Electoral Commission then approved the signatures that have been submitted in favor of the incumbent president.
– It has always been like this. Putin has never debated face-to-face with other candidates, says Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen at the Aleksanteri Institute in Finland to VG.
– The first time, 24 years ago, the war in Chechnya was his election campaign. His election campaign is always war and violence. He rises above ordinary political debate, Tynkkynen continues.
ELECTION CAMPAIGN: Vladimir Putin during a visit to Moscow’s VDNKh exhibition complex on Thursday. The image comes from the state news agency Sputnik. Photo: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV / AFP / NTB
Aage Borchgrevink, author of the book “The Warlord in the Kremlin” and employee of the Helsinki Committee, completely agrees:
– Right from the start in 2000, Putin has refused to participate in debates. At first he didn’t have time. Later he became too big to sit with ordinary candidates. As a result, political debates have often been a bit strange in Russia. Often the big TV stations have failed to invite liberal and ordinary politicians, preferring the funny, angry and eccentric people to debates, continues Borchgrevink.
– The private sessions have a theme that has been the same throughout Putin’s time: “If this is the alternative, it is better that the boss continues”.
CHARMING: Vladimir Putin in conversation with children during a visit to Moscow’s VDNKh exhibition complex on Thursday. The image comes from the state news agency Sputnik. Photo: Aleksander Kazakov / AP / NTB
Putin was first elected president in 2000, was then re-elected in 2004 – but according to the constitution did not have the opportunity to run in 2008.
The constitution was then changed so that Putin could be elected again for six years in 2012 and then for another six years in 2018. So now he is standing for election again – for six more years.
Besides Putin, the Communists’ Nikolay Kharitonov, Vladislav Davankov and the ultra-nationalist Leonid Slutskij from the LDPR have been approved as candidates by the Central Election Commission. More may come, including war opponent Boris Nadezhdin.
Aage Borchgrevink again:
– Russian presidential elections are not subject to great tension in the sense that there are doubts about the outcome. But they are nevertheless carefully organized throughout the large federation, where the authorities are keen to show that people participate in the elections and that they support Putin.
Here is one of Putin’s secret residences:
– They are usually also concerned that there is more than one candidate to choose from, but if someone were to pose a real threat, such as Alexei Navalny recently, they would be prevented from registering.
– What do you think about the election results?
– It may appear that the election commissions are instructed as to what percentage the authorities want for their candidate, which is why there are surprisingly many results in whole numbers, i.e. exactly 70, 75, 80 or 85 percent for Putin and his party.
– Men?
– It seems that the Kremlin is concerned that the elections should have a small remnant of legitimacy, or is simply afraid that they will provide fertile ground for large-scale protests, as after the parliamentary elections in 2011.
– In addition to the usual propaganda apparatus in the media, great emphasis is placed on not putting voters in a bad mood with unpopular measures. The increased alcohol tax will therefore only start working this summer, after Putin has had six more years in his pocket, says Aage Borchgrevink.
Published:
Published: 03.02.24 at 02:20
2024-02-03 01:20:46
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