On the question of turnout, and recent signs that Russian authorities are backing away from their purported target of 70 percent voter participation to boost perceptions of legitimacy, here's Putin's latest, via AP:
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin is urging Russians to cast ballots in Sunday's election, which he's certain to win.
Putin said in Friday's televised address that "the will of the people, the will of each Russian citizen will determine the path the country will take."
The Russian leader, whose approval ratings top 80 percent, is set to easily win another six-year term against seven challengers, but the Kremlin has been concerned about voter apathy and has sought to boost turnout to make Putin's victory as impressive as possible.
Putin urged Russians to "use their right to choose the future for the great Russia that we all love." He warned that failure to cast a ballot would mean that "this decisive choice will be made without your opinion taken into account."
Interfax quoting the Kremlin spokesman on the only real question in this presidential voting:
"It is the job of political experts to reason on what voter turnout will be sufficient. Naturally, bearing in mind that the president's televised address to citizens of Russia calling on them to vote in the election was issued today, the Kremlin believes that the more that citizens use their right to vote, the better," Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
Ukrainian-Born Duma Deputy Takes Jab At Sobchak
Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya says she has sent a lawmaker's request to the head of the Central Election Commission asking that Ksenia Sobchak be disqualified as a candidate over statements concerning Crimea.
RFE/RL's Russian Service quotes the former Ukrainian prosecutor, whom Russian authorities named top prosecutor after Crimea's annexation in 2014 and before her election to the Russian legislature in 2016, as accusing Sobchak of casting doubt on Russian territorial integrity and disrespecting Crimeans.
Poklonskaya also acknowledging that it's too late to get Sobchak off the ballot.
- By Andy Heil
With polling places set to open across Russia in less than 36 hours, a reminder of how diligent some voters -- or maybe falsifiers -- are.
Remember Precinct 451?
Sobchak Again
Ksenia Sobchak, candidate, TV personality, and daughter of a Putin political mentor, is said to be planning to form a new party, The Party Of Change, along with ex-Duma deputy Dmitry Gudkov to participate in upcoming (non-presidential) elections.
Here's an RFE/RL Russian Service video report (in Russian):
- By Carl Schreck
'It Doesn't Take A Rocket Scientist...'
AP's James Ellingsworth interviews retired Russian tennis star Yevgeny Kafelnikov about his vocal support for opposition leader and banned would-be candidate Aleksei Navalny ahead of the March 18 election. Many notable Russian athletes are publicly loyal to President Vladimir Putin, including hockey star Alex Ovechkin. Kafelnikov's dissenting position is a rarity for celebrities in Russia. Ellingsworth writes:
With Putin poised to win as much as 70 percent of the vote, according to state pollsters, Kafelnikov told The Associated Press he won’t vote. Navalny has called on his supporters to boycott what he sees as an unfair election.
“You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand [that Putin will win]," said the 44-year-old Kafelnikov, who stopped playing professionally in 2003. “My choice, who I was willing to give my voice to at the election, he was not allowed to run for the presidency.”
In the tradition of many other sports stars -- including retired American basketball player Karl Malone and baseball player Rickey Henderson -- Kafelnikov also refers to himself in the third person:
“I always thought sports and politics should not collide together on the same path, should be completely separate. Unfortunately as of late...someone’s using the professional athletes for their own benefit. I’ve been always open-minded and people obviously know that Yevgeny Kafelnikov is not for sale. There is no chance that I could sell myself for something like this."
But he adds:
“I’m sure other athletes who are supporting so-called Putin’s team, they do have a choice but they’ve chosen the path which they’re comfortable with. I’m not going to judge each one, why they did this.”
Read the entire article here.
- By Andy Heil
"Old stereotypes about one vote not changing anything, about the result being predetermined, do not apply to the current electoral campaign. It is different, it is open, transparent, active... We’ve come a long way in terms of openness of elections."
Or so says Russian Federation Council chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko.
The last of our Russian Elections 101 video explainers. This one is a look at some of the also-rans.
The first four installments were on The Watchdogs, The Outsider, The Formalities, and The Shoo-In.
Meet 'Generation Putin'
They were babies when Vladimir Putin first became Russian president. Now they can vote for the first time in a presidential election.
Why Wait? Takeaways (Already) From This Weekend's Russian Election
By Robert Coalson
As Russians prepare to go to the polls in the March 18 presidential election, the usual questions don't apply. No one needs to ask which candidate ran the most effective campaign, which one put forward the most compelling platform, who will make it to the second round. And no one needs to ask who will win.
Incumbent President Vladimir Putin will secure a fourth term as president, but that doesn't mean the events currently going on in Russia aren't instructive. Below are a few things that this process has brought to the fore.