Putin's Elaborate Effort to Make His Leadership Look Legitimate

[marmar]

Putin's Elaborate Effort to Make His Leadership Look Legitimate
Russia's democracy may be dead, but the regime is sparing neither effort nor expense in staging the presidential election. Large voter turnout is supposed to give Putin's rule the appearance of legitimacy.

By Ann-Dorit Boy und Christina Hebel in Hamburg, Germany, and Moscow
15.03.2024, 17.40 Uhr


(Der Spiegel) Yulia received her special bonus a few days ago. "For the election," the supervisors stated bluntly. The Muscovite, in her early 40s, works in the administration of a state energy company. The bonus is linked to the so-called "presidential elections" that are slated to be held from Friday to Sunday, marking the first time polls in Russia will be open for three days.

Yulia is set to vote for Vladimir Putin together with her colleagues on Friday in their office using the government portal. Afterward, she's supposed to send a screenshot to her bosses, she tells DER SPIEGEL. It's an order that will be difficult to evade. Lists have been drawn up with the current telephone numbers of the employees, which they use to log into the portal, Yulia explains. She assumes that checks will be made to see who has logged in and when – and who has not.

Previous elections have also seen pressure exerted on employees of state-owned companies, says Yulia, whose name has been changed here. But it has been particularly bad this time, she says. Other employees of state-owned companies also shared similar accounts with DER SPIEGEL.

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The Election Manipulation Toolbox

The Kremlin has greatly expanded its toolbox for election manipulation in recent years, with two-thirds of the articles in the law on presidential elections having been changed. Here are just a few of the most important points:

* According to the Russian constitution, a president may not rule for more than two terms. But Putin had the constitution amended in 2020 to annul his previous terms of office. This means he can theoretically be elected to the presidency two more times for six-year terms and remain in the Kremlin until 2036.

* As part of the constitutional amendment, the rules for the admission of candidates to the presidential election were also tightened. They must now have lived permanently in Russia for 25 years instead of 10, and must not hold or have held a second citizenship or the right to residency in another country. There is an exception for Ukrainians from the occupied territories.

* In 2020, Moscow moved to stretch the election from one to three days.

* Voters in Moscow and the country's 28 regions have the opportunity to vote online this time, more than ever before. However, this form of voting is even less transparent than traditional ballot box votes.

* The possibilities for direct election observation – such as access to video recordings from polling stations, which had existed in the past – were severely restricted.

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https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-election-farce-in-russia-putins-elaborate-effort-to-make-his-re-election-look-legitimate-a-efe12cba-677e-499f-9a7d-5e5a9266f10a