MP:3 Blog: 3
According to exit poles, Putin is being congratulated on his victory of taking the presidency yet again in Russia. Not that the real votes have officially been counted, but he is expected to have a 60% majority of the votes. This is also assuming that the "real votes" even have any legitimacy. Many people, including opposing presidential candidates, are saying this election has no validity and Putin is a fraud. There are many rumors of "merry-go-round" voters who went around to many different polling places and voted many times under made-up names and if that didn't occur, there was surely rigging that occurred behind closed doors. There are also rumors that the crowd that was congratulating him on his victory was asked/forced to be there.
Is any of this true? Could any of this even be proved? Wouldn't it take a long time to prove? Would it even make a difference if it was ascertained that this was a fraudulent election? Are some people being paranoid? Is Putin trying to have control of Russia until he dies?
Additionally, it seems like there are people in Russia who do like Putin. Couldn't there be a lot of them? Are people just being sore losers? Also, is it just me or is it weird that Putin just always gets to be in charge of everything? But don't Russians kind of like when someone takes initiative to take care of things for them?
Anyway, there is an opposition protest that is planned to occur on Monday. The people making up the opposition are still mad about allegations of election fraud concerning parliamentary elections that so happened to end up in favor of Putin's United Russia. I don't think this protest will have any effect. Obviously if Putin took the lengths to rig an entire election in his favor, as well as work around the constitution to gain power over the country as prime minister, why would a single protest mean anything to him? I think they will be ignored and the protest will dissolve shortly, especially if the opposition doesn't gain any supporters (cause, you know, Russians feel kind of weird about gathering and working together on stuff).
All in all, I don't think this election has changed or will change anything in Russia. Putin is still in power and some people are still upset about it, but Putin is going to do what Putin wants to do--and to be honest, I know the whole one-party, one-ruler thing isn't ideal for anyone, but it is not like he's mistreating the Russian people or going all dictatorship on anyone. I guess I'm not really sure if I know what Russia wants...or if Russia even knows what Russia wants.
This just sounds to me like everyone in Russia is very confused. Like you said, they don't know what they want. And really how does one win an election before any votes are counted? I guess he just announced his victory before anyone else had a chance to do anything.. like actually vote.
ReplyDeleteSo hopefully that opposition protests turns into something larger so some actual change can take place?
We need to remember that Putin has all the power in Russia. We can assume that he cheated in the election somehow and that ensured that he would win. But we also need to remember that he is very popular and most likely didn't need the boost of cheating. But Putin is flexing his power by manipulating the ballots, or doing whatever it is that he does. Putin will most likely accept his constitutional powers as president and then some, during his term.
ReplyDeletePeople in Russia trust Putin. Their economic and political situation is unstable, and, to draw from LOST, Putin is their constant. He makes their world stop spinning and gives them something familiar to cling to. Though Putin may have abused his powers or will exercise metaconstitutional powers, the Russians put the most faith of any part of government in him.
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