Re-election of Putin: the West denounces a distorted vote, authoritarian regimes applaud

There was no doubt about the result. As agreed, Vladimir Putin was re-elected with a Soviet score: 87% of the votes after the counting of 99% of the polling stations. The master of the Kremlin can now rule until 2036. “It doesn’t matter who wants to intimidate us or how much, it doesn’t matter who wants to crush us or how much, our will or our conscience. No one has ever managed to do something like this in history. “It didn’t work today and won’t work in the future,” he told his excited campaign team.

The other three candidates hardly diverged from the official line. Boris Nadezhdine, who wanted an end to the war in Ukraine, was excluded from the election, like Ekaterina Duntsova, who also called for an end to the “special military operation” and a decentralization of power. As for opponent No. 1, Alexeï Navalny, he mysteriously died a month before the election. Ironic, the President of the European Council Charles Michel congratulated Vladimir Putin on X on Friday, the day the voting began.

A coincidence which made Emmanuel Macron say in Le Parisien, before the election, that “the death of Alexeï Navalny and the banning of all his opponents mean that we cannot congratulate someone on an election surrounded by the death of those who fought for pluralism in Russia. The Quai d'Orsay, in a press release published this Monday, considers that "the conditions for a free election have not been met" and "salutes the courage" of the Russians who expressed their opposition.

Lord David Cameron, British Foreign Secretary, denounced “the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, [the] lack of choice for voters and the absence of independent monitoring by the OSCE”. “This is not what free and fair elections look like,” he added on X. Germany regretted, through Annalena Baerbock, Minister of Foreign Affairs, “an election without choice ” showing “Putin’s infamous action against his own people.” “The elections in Russia were neither free nor fair and they also concerned illegally occupied Ukrainian territories,” responded Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

The holding of elections in the territories occupied and annexed by Russia was also denounced by the UN. “The Secretary General condemns the efforts of the Russian Federation to hold its presidential election in the regions of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation. He recalls that the illegal attempt to annex territories of Ukraine has no validity in terms of international law,” declared his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric. “According to international law, the occupying power – in this case, the Russian Federation – is obliged to respect the laws of Ukraine in the occupied territories.” A joint declaration, signed by more than fifty countries (United States, France, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, South Korea, etc.), “condemns in the strongest terms” the holding of elections in these territories.

The Russian election “was not a free and fair vote”, because it was based “on repression and intimidation”, reacted Josep Borell, the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs.

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Poland, which experienced the misdeeds of the Russian occupation, denounced an election which is “not legal, free and fair”, in a Foreign Affairs press release which recalls “a context of severe repression”. “The so-called election in Russia was conducted neither freely nor fairly,” said Espen Barth Eide, Norway's foreign minister. As for Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, he posted a message on social media saying that “it is clear to everyone that this character, as has happened so often in history, is simply drunk of power and does everything he can to reign eternally.

Several Latin American leaders, however, congratulated Vladimir Putin on his re-election. “As President of Honduras and President of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), I send a message of congratulations to President Vladimir Putin on his convincing victory in the Russian elections,” published on X, the President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro. “His confident victory reaffirms the unity of the courageous Russian people, centered on sovereignty and continued development,” Bolivian President Luis Arce also published.

China, which has become Russia's main ally, "expressed its congratulations" and said it was "convinced that, under the strategic leadership of President Xi Jinping and President Putin, relations between China and Russia will continue to progress." Iran also welcomed a “solid victory” for Vladimir Putin.

The leaders of the Cuban, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan dictatorships also sent their congratulations and best wishes to the Russian president. Kim Jong-Un, the North Korean leader also congratulated Vladimir Putin, as did Emomali Rakhmon, Tajik president. “With all my heart, I congratulate you on your electoral victory. The results of the vote are another striking illustration of your political influence and the broad support of Russian society for your political direction aimed at ensuring sustainable social and economic development of the country and strengthening its position on the world stage,” he said. -he writes in a press release.