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https://theconversation.com/russia-is-about-to-hold-another-presidential-election-it-neednt-bother-225645>
"Time for an early announcement: Vladimir Putin has won the upcoming Russian
presidential election on March 15–17. It’s hardly a spoiler. Russian elections
have been performative exercises in phoney democracy for many years now, and
this latest round of theatre promises to be no different.
Official state analysts peg Putin’s likely support at around 75%. His only
rivals are state-permitted and largely endorse both his platform and
leadership. They include the Communist Party’s ageing Nikolai Kharitonov, who
is polling around 4%, and Leonid Slutsky, the comparatively spry candidate from
the misnamed Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (it’s actually an
ultra-nationalist party), who is polling about the same.
Perhaps the most “liberal” candidate on the ballot is Vladislav Davankov, the
deputy chair of the State Duma – Russia’s lower house of parliament. Davankov
has called for peace talks in Ukraine “on our terms, and with no roll-back”,
and his main campaign slogan is the rather vague “Yes to changes!”. He is
expected to receive perhaps 5% of the vote.
As Russians obediently line up to cast what amounts to little more than a
mandatory expression of fealty, the only real questions worth asking are:
* is there any semblance of opposition left?
* and what kind of leader Putin will be in his fifth full term as president?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
