Did Vladimir Putin win the Presidential elections by default?

Have you ever felt that the candidates in an election are limited that you have no choice but to vote for the existing one?

Vladimir Putin has extended his grip on Russia for another six years after an overwhelming victory in Sunday’s presidential election, a result that was never in doubt.

With 99.8% of the votes counted, Putin won with 76.7%, according to Central Election Commission data. It means Putin will rule until 2024 when he will be 71 and obliged by law to step down. Voter turnout was 67.5%.

Putin sailed to victory against the backdrop of wall-to-wall support from state media and with no serious challenger. His nearest rival, Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin, won 11.79%, while ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky took 5.7%. Former reality TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak was on 1.7%, while veteran liberal politician Grigory Yavlinsky received just over 1% of the vote.

His fiercest opponent, Alexei Navalny, was barred from the race.

Putin, a former KGB spy, has dominated Russian politics for 18 years and the 65-year-old was already the country’s longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

He declared victory in front of thousands of people gathered in below-freezing temperatures at Moscow’s Manezhnaya Square near the Kremlin, where he called for unity in the country.

“We are a single team, I am a member of this team, and all those who cast their ballots today are members of our large national team,” he said, after a colorful show of high-energy musical performances.

“I see this as a sign of trust and hope, the hope of our people that we will work as hard, with the same responsibility and effectiveness as before. Thank you for being such a powerful, millions-strong team. We will definitely succeed.”

Although his victory was a foregone conclusion, the high score is a major boost to Putin, who already enjoys sweeping powers over his country. He won with 63.6% of the votes cast in the 2012 election.

Under current Russian law, Putin cannot stand for re-election. But he has not groomed a successor, prompting speculation he may try to find ways to extend his power beyond this term.

Uneven playing field

Putin’s critics have slammed the election as unfair, citing the Kremlin’s tight control over the media, quelling of the opposition and restrictions on some election monitors to ensure a free vote.

By early evening Sunday, the non-governmental election monitoring group Golos had counted 2,000 incidents of voting irregularities, including observers being prevented from carrying out monitoring.

The vote was a huge logistical undertaking, taking place across Russia’s 11 time zones over 22 hours, in around 97,000 polling stations, according to the Central Election Commission.

One-horse race

The Kremlin had aimed for a turnout of more than 70% to cement its legitimacy, but the election period was muted and marked by a sense of voter apathy.

Alexander G, a 23-year-old model, said he abstained from voting.

“For now it’s just one Putin, and other candidates are a circus — we don’t really have an option,” he told a leading news agency outside a Moscow cafe on Sunday night.

His friend, 21-year-old modeling agent Max V, also chose not to vote, saying there weren’t enough candidates to choose from.

“Everyone knows that Putin will be the president again. I would have like to have had an option. I think there will be an alternative one day but many years later.”

Several Russians told the agency of a culture of pressure to support the President. A public service employee who asked to remain anonymous said that all the workers in his office were verbally told to go to a celebration rally commemorating the election on Sunday evening.

“A satisfied Putin will come out and give a speech,” he said.

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