President Vladimir Putin is set to tighten his grip on the country he has ruled since the turn of the century, with early results from Russia’s stage-managed election indicating a predictably large victory for the Kremlin leader in a result that was a foregone conclusion.
The result means Putin will rule until at least 2030, when he will be 77.
Russia’s longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, he will secure a third full decade of rule.
With most opposition candidates either dead, jailed, exiled or barred from running – and with dissent effectively outlawed in Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – Putin faced no credible challenge to his rule.
The result was inevitable, but the ritual of elections is nonetheless crucially important to the Kremlin as a means of confirming Putin’s authority.
The ritual used to be held every four years, before the law was changed in 2008 to extend presidential terms to six years.
More constitutional changes in 2020 removed presidential term limits, potentially allowing Putin to stay in power until 2036.