Russian election: Putin with a record landslide win extends 25-year rule in vote

Putin with a record landslide win extends his 25-year rule in the vote, early results indicate.

As reported, President Vladimir Putin won a record 88% in Russia’s presidential election on Sunday.

Nationwide turnout was 74.22% at 1800 GMT when polls closed, according to the election officials, surpassing 2018 levels of 67.5%.

Putin, who came to power in 1999, has secured the highest-ever result in Russia’s post-Soviet history, according to an exit poll by pollster the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM). The Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) put Putin on 87%.

“The elections are not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him,” the White House’s National Security Council spokesperson said.

The Russian presidential election comes just over two years since Putin triggered the deadliest European conflict since World War Two by ordering the invasion of Ukraine.

Putin casts it as a “special military operation.”