Protests loom as Putin wins back Kremlin
RUSSIA: Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday reclaimed the
Kremlin after a crushing victory in a presidential election but faced
protests by the opposition who said the poll was undermined by fraud.
Putin secured almost 64 percent of the vote in Sunday's election,
winning back the Russian presidency which he held from 2000-2008 before
his four-year stint as prime minister, the central election commission
said.
His nearest rival, the Communist Party boss Gennady Zyuganov, trailed
well behind with just over 17 percent of the votes cast, but Putin was
set to face the latest in a series of mass opposition protests against
his rule in Moscow later Monday.
Opposition leaders are expecting tens of thousands of people to rally
in Pushkin Square to demonstrate for a “Russia without Putin” in a
protest that has been sanctioned by the authorities but will take place
amid heavy security.
In an unexpected move ahead of the protest, the Kremlin said outgoing
President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a review of the conviction of tycoon
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose jailing the opposition sees as politically
motivated.
Zyuganov denounced the elections as “crooked” while independent
monitoring groups chronicled thousands of violations including cases of
multiple voting and ballot stuffing.
“Vladimir Putin won the presidential elections by a wide margin but
the task of increasing his legitimacy has yet to be solved,” said the
Vedomosti business daily.
The opposition raised concerns about so called “carousel” voting
where people cast multiple ballots at different polling stations using
absentee voting documents.
“These elections cannot be considered legitimate in any way,”
Vladimir Ryzhkov, one of the leaders of the protest movement, told state
television after the results were announced.
Putin, whose new presidential mandate is for six years, will return
to the Kremlin at a time of rapid social change in a Russia that is
seeing an increasingly critical middle class and an explosion in
Internet use. But these concerns did not spoil Putin's mood Monday night
as he appeared before over 100,000 supporters just outside the Kremlin
and appeared to wipe tears from his eyes, although he later claimed this
was caused by the wind.
“We have won in an open and honest battle,” Putin said with his voice
hoarse with emotion, standing on a stage alongside Medvedev on Manezh
Square.
“I promised you we would win, we won. Glory to Russia!” Putin said,
adding that voters had defeated provocations that aimed “to break up the
Russian state and to usurp power.” His supporters filled the square,
spilling over into surrounding streets, waving Russian flags and
chanting “Putin, Putin!”. He later visited his election headquarters and
shook hands with, hugged and kissed supporters.
Putin, who is set to be inaugurated in May, won 63.97 percent of the
vote, well ahead of Zyuganov who won 17.18 percent, the election
commission said based on a count from 98.47 percent of polling stations.
AFP
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