According to Russian state-owned media, the results for the Russian Presidential Election have been finalized by the Russian Central Election Commission. According to that body, incumbent President Putin has won 87.28% of the electorate in what is being touted as a historic win in Russian presidential history amid overwhelming support of the War in Ukraine, according to the Russian government.
Let us take a walk through the brief history of Russian presidential elections in the post-Yeltsin years of which Putin has dominated. In order are the results of the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2018, and 2024 Russian presidential elections. Please note that during President Medvedev’s term (which is considered to be a stand-in term for Putin while he served as Prime Minister), the Russian Constitution was amended to make the presidential term 6 years instead of 4, thus the interval increase.
For President Putin to achieve 87% of the vote demonstrates the strength of the security services to accomplish domestic political goals. Since the 2004 Presidential election, the FSB has painstakingly forced election results not only in turnout numbers, but also in percentage results. In order to project legitimacy to the West, especially the U.S. and Europe, internal state mechanisms are leveraged to achieve usually around 70% of the vote. However, the met goal of greater than 85% of the electorate is a clear message to the world that Putin is here to stay, and his presidency is bent on accomplishing its goal in Ukraine. Make no mistake, Putin is popular in Russia, but the suppression of viable alternative candidates and other forcing functions in reality only left him on the ballot.
Congratulatory messages have been rolling in to President Putin from around the autocratic world. The first to publicly congratulate him was Chinese President Xi Jinping, followed interestingly by Indian Prime Minister Modi. As of this publication, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed also offered his congratulations.