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Putin Expected To Sail To Fourth Term As Russians Begin Voting

RFE/RL March 17, 2018

Voters in Russia are heading to the polls on March 18 in a presidential election that is all but certain to secure President Vladimir Putin a fourth term in office.

The 65-year-old incumbent is riding a wave of government-stoked popularity on the fourth anniversary of Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and in the wake of a military intervention in Syria that has been played up on state-controlled television as a patriotic success.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (8 p.m. GMT on March 17) in Russia's Far East, state television reported.

They will close at 8 p.m. (6 p.m. GMT on March 18) in Kaliningrad, Russia's westernmost territory, with preliminary results expected shortly afterward.

The election comes as Russia's relations with Britain are highly strained over the nerve-agent poisoning in Salisbury of a former Russian spy that London blames on Moscow.

In addition, the United States on March 15 imposed yet another round of sanctions on Russian firms and individuals in connection with what Washington says was Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

These tensions, however, only bolster Putin's popular image as a defender of Russia and give credence to his assertions that Russia is surrounded by foreign enemies.

The other seven candidates in the presidential election trail far behind Putin in opinion polls, with Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin polling 7 percent and journalist Ksenia Sobchak at just 2 percent. According to the Kremlin-friendly All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion, Putin is polling 69 percent support.

According to a Gallup poll, taken late in 2017, 80 percent of Russians approve of Putin's leadership, while only 40 percent have confidence in the reliability of Russia's elections.

Polls close at 6 p.m. GMT on March 18 in Kaliningrad, Russia's westernmost territory, with preliminary results expected shortly afterward.

Other candidates include nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky, nationalist Sergei Baburin, Communists of Russia candidate Maksim Suraikin, centrist Boris Titov, and liberal Grigory Yavlinsky.

Putin's only significant potential rival, opposition politician and anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny, has been barred from participating in the election because of a felony embezzlement conviction that has been widely seen as trumped up and politically motivated.

Navalny, who has dismissed the election as "the reappointment of Vladimir Putin," has called on voters to boycott. The Kremlin and local authorities have launched a wide-ranging carrot-and-stick effort to boost turnout in order to bolster the appearance of the election's legitimacy.

Russian media have cited unidentified Kremlin sources as saying the government was aiming for a turnout of 70 percent, with 70 percent of the vote going to Putin.

Security will be intensified across the country. Police in Moscow have announced plans to put 17,000 officers, National Guard troops, and other security personnel on the streets on election day. Polling stations will be checked by bomb-sniffing dogs.

The Central Election Committee refused to accredit independent election monitors organized by Navalny, as well as those organized by the Golos election-monitoring NGO.

The campaign has been low-key, with Putin largely declining to participate. The other candidates held a series of nationally televised "debates" that frequently deteriorated into shouting matches, name-calling, and fisticuffs.

Putin, who has been president or prime minister since 1999, would be 71 when the six-year term expires in 2024. Under the current constitution, he would not be eligible to seek another consecutive term, but he could repeat the tactic he used in 2008 when he allowed Dmitry Medvedev to take the presidency for one term while he continued to wield decisive power as prime minister.

If no candidate secures a majority, a second round of voting would be held on April 8.

With reporting by BBC, Reuters, Time, and TASS

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-expected-to-sail-to- fourth-term-as-russians-vote/29105971.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.