(Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked his compatriots on Thursday for broadly validating a reform allowing him to remain in power until 2036, a ballot criticized in the West and described as “a lie” by the opposition.
Posted on July 2 2020 at 8 a.m. 53 Updated to 10 h 20
Romain COLAS
France Media Agency
In a television allowance, he addressed “a big thank you” to the Russians for their “support and (their) confidence”. He assured that the reform will offer “internal stability and time to strengthen the country and all its institutions”.
Earlier the Kremlin had hailed a “triumph”. According to the final results published Thursday by the Election Commission, the vote to approve a block of constitutional revisions ended with a victory of “yes” to 77, 92%.
One of the amendments gives Vladimir Putin the option of carrying out two additional mandates at the end of the current one in 2024 . He will thus have the possibility of staying in the Kremlin until 2036, the year of his 84 years.
The revision also introduces into the Constitution conservative principles dear to the president – faith in God, marriage reserved for heterosexuals, patriotic education -, as well as social guarantees, such as indexation of pensions.
M. Putin also brings into the fundamental law the principle of the supremacy of the Constitution over international law.
“Triomphal”
So many measures intended according to him to ensure Russian sovereignty and traditions. For his detractors, it is a question of inscribing his political principles in the fundamental law in order to perpetuate his system.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov welcomed a “triumphant referendum of confidence in President Putin” and “an extremely high level of participation and support”.
If there was never any doubt as to its outcome – the reform having been approved by the legislator at the beginning of the year and the new text of the Constitution already put on sale in bookstores – the critics of the Kremlin denounced a vote tainted with fraud.
Power has multiplied the tricks, according to many observers, to ensure resounding success and strong electoral participation, with for example a lottery with gifts for participants, vouchers or offices voting in the street where the surveillance of ballot boxes was anecdotal.
Opponent Alexei Navalny called the vote “a huge lie”, calling on his supporters to mobilize for the next regional elections in September.
Denouncing an “unprecedented” attack on the sovereignty of the Russian people, the NGO Golos, specialized in the observation of the elections, received more than 2036 reports of possible violations, including cases of officials forced to go to the polls.
Washington “concerned”
Faced with these accusations, the spokesperson for the US State Department, Morgan Ortagus, expressed concern, citing reports of “voter coercion, pressure on opponents of the amendments and restrictions imposed on independent voting observers ”.
Meanwhile, Peter Stano, the spokesperson for the EU’s chief diplomat, has urged Moscow to investigate the reported irregularities.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, close to the Russian president, “warmly congratulated” Thursday Vladimir Putin.
The president of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, for her part considered that “there is no doubt that the vote is valid and legitimate”, according to the Russian agency Ria Novosti.
The vote, originally scheduled for April, had been postponed because of the COVID pandemic – 19. To avoid excessive crowds at polling stations, it took place over a week, until Wednesday.
The autonomous district of Nénétsie, in the Arctic, is the only region of Russia where the “no” prevailed with 55, 25% of the votes, according to the official count. This isolated and sparsely populated territory, known for its reindeer herders, could soon be attached to the Arkhangelsk region, which has sparked local opposition.
