Russian leader a step closer to a fifth term in widely expected announcement, with little doubt over outcome

Vladimir Putin has said he will run for president in the March 2024 election, moving the longtime Russian leader a step closer to a fifth term in office.

The announcement on Friday was widely expected and there is little question about the outcome.

Putin has dominated Russia’s political system and the media for the past two decades, jailing prominent opposition politicians, such as Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin, who could challenge him on the ballot. Putin has won previous elections by a landslide, but independent election watchdogs say they were marred by widespread fraud.

Putin’s long-term spokesperson in a previous interview said: “Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90% of the vote”.

  • dinckel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    44·
    11 months ago

    We all already know how this will end. It’ll be a landslide win, with the closest opponent getting 5% of votes at best. That’s assuming they won’t fall out of a seemingly random window by then

  • Jin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    271·
    11 months ago

    Why not just do like the Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and become a “forever” dictator?

    • Womble@lemmy.worldEnglish
      101·
      11 months ago

      Xi isn’t a dictator for life, he still has to be re-elected by the politburo each time his term runs out. It’s just that he has purge and stacked everywhere to an extent it seems impossible that he ever wont be re-elected unless something dramatic happens.

    • noobdoomguy8658@feddit.deEnglish
      2·
      11 months ago

      One of the Russian politicians calls this whole tendency “acclamation” - Putin is basically doing it to make everyone nod in agreement, saying that they at least don’t mind him being in power; long story short, it a mental gymnastics move to push lies about legitimacy and support around the country and outside so that everyone argues over nothing instead of acting.

      And then beatings on top of that.

  • PorradaVFR@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    11 months ago

    Remember when he termed out?

    Also, I look forward to hearing policy positions from his opponent … oops he fell out a window. This other candidate … window. And … window.

    • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.eeEnglish
      12·
      11 months ago

      Well it’s not Putin’s fault if all the other candidates are idiots and so stupid they cannot even keep themselves from falling out of a window. Also, do you want someone suicidal to run your country? /s

  • DDNB@lemmy.worldEnglish
    172·
    11 months ago

    Imagine if this is his way out of the war, he just loses the election (to a puppet prob) and then it’s their problem. They pull out of the war and then putin says “I would never have pulled out of the war, shameful display!”

    • 0xD@infosec.pubEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      This war is Putin’s entire life goal. Gone bad. He’s not pulling out before he’s dead. Let’s hope he chokes on his food.

  • WashedOver@lemmy.caEnglish
    132·
    11 months ago

    It displays those countries that have never had a strong history of democracy will struggle to not fall back into Fascism, Communism, or some form of military control via a dictatorship.

    It’s been interesting over my life from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the new Russia and former soviet block countries having sampled western ways.

    It’s been interesting to see limits on how long one can run for office in Russia was worked around with swapping roles of president and premier early on to a outright change of removing such limits.

    I recall the older generations in these countries longing for the good old days of their memories when bumps in the road arise. The Soviets were some good guys they said. That was when things was great for them. Much better than the western experiment turned out.

    We also see the purges throughout the Communist party in China and the removal of limits so one can become the ruler for life.

    Many countries around slipped back into Fascism, Communism, dictatorships, cults of personalities, with America barely holding on to not circling down this same drain in the past few years with those wanting to see these same changes to limits and even restricting voting in a country with one of the strongest histories of voting freedom. It’s been odd to see the right embrace their love for Russia when traditionally that was very not patriotic behavior that would see many blacklisted. It’s a badfe of honour now for many like those that fly Nazi flags in the streets.

    As the world continues to go right, it’s been interesting to see how much goes wrong. I wonder if this is how things were getting in the run up to the first. world war with the chaos and extremism running amuck then.