Medvedev Wins Russian Presidential Vote
Sunday, 2 March, 2008 by ballyblog
Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin’s hand-picked successor, on Sunday secured an overwhelming victory in the election to become Russia’s next president although his opponents claimed ballotrigging was even more widespread than in parliamentary elections three months ago.
The vote hands the presidency to a man seen as a relative liberal among Mr Putin’s entourage. Many Russians, however, wonder whether Mr Medvedev or Mr Putin – set to become prime minister – will be Russia’s most powerful figure and doubt that he will be able to deliver on his promises to introduce the rule of law and rebuild freedoms eroded during the Putin era.
An exit poll for Russia’s Channel One television gave Mr Medvedev 70.1 per cent, more than four times that of his nearest rival, Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov, on 16.8 per cent. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the ultranationalist, was on 11.4 per cent, with Andrei Bogdanov, a little-known liberal, on 1.7 per cent.
If confirmed, Mr Medvedev’s share of the vote would be marginally below the 71.3 per cent achieved by Mr Putin himself in 2004.
The Central Electoral Commission estimated turnout at 67 per cent of Russia’s 109m registered voters. Authorities across the country had put heavy pressure on voters to turn out in recent days, amid official concerns that the poll had become such a foregone conclusion that it could be tarnished by low turnout.
Mr Medvedev and Mr Putin appeared late on Sunday night before a huge crowd gathered for a rock concert in Red Square. “This is a special day for our country. We have chosen a course for a long time ahead, and we have a chance to…cement stability and carry on down the path we have been travelling for the past few years,” Mr Medvedev said.
Mr Putin declared the vote had taken place “strictly in line with the constitution”.
“This victory is a guarantee that the…successful course we have followed over the last eight years will be continued,” he said.
Mr Zyuganov cried foul and said he was confident his own support had been higher than official figures showed, with polling for the Communist party showing he had 25-30 per cent of the vote in many areas.
“For me this is not a victory for Medvedev, this is a pre-planned result that they squeezed out by rejecting debate and exerting administrative pressure,” he said
Mr Zhirinovsky and Mr Zyuganov said they planned to issue a legal challenge to the results. The Communists said authorities had been caught stuffing ballot boxes in several regions.
