Elections in Russia: Elections started in the Far East of the country

polling offices opened Russian Far East Beginning of presidential elections, which will last for three days Vladimir PutinIn power for 24 years, is seeking a new mandate.

Elections on the peninsula began at 8:00 local time on Friday (20 GMT on Thursday) in Kamchatka and Chukotkain the Far East of Russia, and will end at 8pm local time (18 GMT) on Sunday KaliningradA Russian enclave in the middle of the EU countries.

In what context are elections held? Persistent repression has crippled independent media There are already major right groups and they have given Putin complete control over the political system.

They come even as Moscow’s war in Ukraine enters its third year. Russia has the advantage on the battlefield, where it is making small, if slow, progress. Ukraine, meanwhile, has left Moscow vulnerable behind the front lines: long-range drone strikes have struck deep into Russia, while high-tech drones have put its Black Sea Fleet on defense.

Voters will cast their votes at polling stations from Friday to Sunday 11 time zones of the vast countryAs well as in the illegally occupied territories of Ukraine.

There is some uncertainty in the election as 71-year-old Putin tries his luck fifth term Practically without any opposition. His political rivals are in jail or in exile abroad, and the most radical of them, Alexey Navalny, recently died in a remote Arctic penal colony. The other three candidates on the ballot are low-profile politicians from nominal opposition parties who toe the Kremlin line.

Only registered candidates or state-backed advisory bodies may appoint observers at polling stations, which Reduces the possibility of independent monitors, With three days of voting at about 100,000 polling stations in the country, it is difficult to keep real control. Only registered candidates or state-backed advisory bodies can appoint observers at polling stations, reducing the possibility of independent observers. With voting lasting three days at some 100,000 polling stations across the country, any real control is difficult anyway.

Ukraine and the West have also condemned Russia for holding the vote in Ukrainian areas that have been seized and annexed by Moscow’s forces.

The Kremlin excluded from the vote two politicians who wanted to run an anti-war program and who had real, though not overwhelming, support, thus depriving voters of any choice on “the main issue on Russia’s political agenda”. given. Political. Analyst Abbas Galyamov, who worked as Putin’s speechwriter.

The scattered Russian opposition has urged those dissatisfied with Putin or the war to go to the polls at noon on Sunday, the last day of voting. This strategy was endorsed by Navalny shortly before his death.

(With information from AFP and AP)