When are the Russian elections? Will Vladimir Putin win again? And what does it mean for the West?
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Loading... - Jan Willis
- 09 Mar 2021
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Vladimir Putin is vying for an unprecedented fourth term as President.
The Russian hardman stands accused of trying to undermine democracies through cyber ops and spreading fake news.
He has endangered the stability of Eastern Europe with his incursion into Ukraine and he is accused of meddling in the US presidential election.
Britain this week was again reminded of the dangers he could pose.
The attempted poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia has all the hallmarks of a Kremlin-inspired operation.
Later this month Mr Putin will hope to cement his grip on power by winning a fourth term as President.
Here’s what you can expect in the elections:
When are the Russian elections?
Russia goes to the polls on Sunday 18 March to elect a new President.
Mr Putin served two four-year terms as President from 2000 to 2008.
Under the then rules he was barred from serving a third consecutive four-year term so he stepped down to become Prime Minister from 2008-12 while his protegee Dmitry Medvedev served as President.
Mr Putin was then re-elected President in 2012, this time for a six-year term, while Medvedev reverted to his role as Prime Minister.
If he wins on March 18, the 65-year-old will serve until 2024.
Will Vladimir Putin win again?
His victory is inevitable. Opinion polls have placed 60% ahead of his nearest rivals.
This is mainly because his main political opponent, Alexei Navalny, has been barred from running in the election after serving a brief prison term.
Supporters claim Navalny, 41, was arrested on trumped up charges to prevent him from contesting the presidency.
The anti-corruption campaigner has called on supporters to boycott the elections.
This could prove problematic for Mr Putin who wants to prove to his detractors in the West his victory is legitimate.
He is campaigning on a 70-70 strategy: 70% of the vote on a turn out of 70%.
Who are the other candidates?
Mr Putin is facing seven other candidates. They include the strawberry farmer Pavel Grudinin, 57 and the talk show host and TV reality star Ksenia Sobchak 36.
Dubbed Russia’s “Paris Hilton” she is seen as one of Putin’s puppets.
Her father is the former Mayor of St Petersburg and a close friend of the president.
The other candidates are Vladimir Zhirinovsky, 71, a nationalist firebrand, Grigory Yavlinsky, 65, a survivor of the Mikail Gorbachev era, the pro-business Boris Titov, the former Soviet soldier Sergei Baburin and Maxim Suraikin, who describes himself as a Leninist-Stalinist.
None are expected to poll above 10%.
What does it mean for the West?
The West is resigned to another six years of Putin and with it no change in Russian foreign policy.
The President is still fighting to overturn sanctions imposed by the US and the EU following the annexation of Crimea and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Foreign observers are looking to what happens in 2024 and who Mr Putin will groom as his successor.
Mr Putin has amassed a great deal of power and wealth while in the Kremlin through his iron grip on the country.
There are fears that his departure could throw a country which is struggling economically and rife with corruption into turmoil.
