"In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed
at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president.
He will serve for six more years.
He will be 77 years old in 2030. According to the constitution, which he
re-wrote to his benefit in 2020, he then could stand again for a further
six-year term.
To put that in perspective, Putin already has ruled Russia as president or
prime minister for 24 years, or the equivalent of eight Australian
parliamentary terms. In that period, Australia has had eight prime ministers
and changed governing party three times. The United States has had five
different presidents; the United Kingdom seven different prime ministers.
In contrast to elections in the West, where the outcomes are genuinely in the
hands of the voters and adjudicated by independent electoral commissions,
Russia is different. As the former UK ambassador to Moscow, Laurie Bristow,
wrote:
In Russia, the purpose of elections is to validate the decisions of its
rulers, not to discover the will of the people."
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
