Russian elections are affected by the fact that the results are known before polling stations open.

Over the past two decades, and for the foreseeable future, the result has been that Vladimir Putin wins.

That’s not to say this election is irrelevant. Russia observers believe Putin still craves the semblance of legitimacy. Russia under Putin relies more than ever on people pretending they have civil rights and that their country is not a mafia kleptocracy.

From Siberia to St. Petersburg, everyone in Russia knows about the “2024 problem.”

For much of the past decade, it was thought that the Russian president would have to choose a successor now that he would no longer be eligible for re-election in 2024. However, in 2020, dictator Putin changed the constitution, conveniently allowing him to write off his previous term and run again this weekend for his first term. Therefore, he can continue to serve as president until 2036, when he will be 83 years old.

Still, holding a fraudulent election in a country as vast as Russia requires some organization.

Before the vote, any candidate who might anger voters is banned or persuaded to step down. Pensioners, veterans and families were reassured by the promise of handouts.

Vera Ageeva, a Russian political scientist at Sciences Po in Paris, said officials have now established a nationwide network of election manipulation. Local electoral commissions ensured that Putin’s participation and vote counts were falsified at every polling station.

“This is not an easy task and requires mobilizing local authorities to be prepared to engage in fraud,” she said. “For 95 per cent of polling stations, things are going well.

“In recent years they have removed all independent observers and introduced detailed new rules to help them make fraud less visible and obvious.

“The three-day voting period, encouraging state workers, including school teachers, to vote on Friday, the use of electronic voting, etc., can help them manipulate the results.”

The fly in the ointment for Putin may be the protests. His police state is now so pervasive and brutal that no one expects pro-democracy demonstrators to threaten the outcome.But given Thousands of brave men and women He risked persecution last month to mourn the death of prominent dissident Alexei Navalny, but the regime knows it is loathed by many Russians.

At least 27,000 people According to Russian independent news media, he came to the Borisovsky Cemetery on the outskirts of Moscow to say goodbye to Navalny media area.

On Friday morning, reports emerged that Russian voters had stained their ballots with red ink – a sign of blood and their opposition to the war in Ukraine.

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, called on Western countries not to recognize the legitimacy of Putin’s new presidency. But if Western governments do this, how can they logically recognize the right of Xi Jinping or other dictators to represent their countries?

Navalnaya also called on voters to show up en masse at polling stations at 12 noon on Sunday to vote against Putin or have their votes ruined. The “Noon Against Putin” event was designed to honor Navalny’s last wish while demonstrating that there are large numbers of voters opposed to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

By voting en masse at noon on Sunday, protesters will engage in legal activity while also expressing their opposition to Putin.

new paperRussia’s independent newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta called the protests “Navalny’s will.”

Ajiyeva believes that although thousands of people may have participated in the protests, there has been little media coverage of local polling stations.

“So you may not see tens of thousands of participants,” she said. She added that Russian authorities could react harshly to public demonstrations against the regime.

When the rigged vote inevitably ends and the dust settles on Monday, Putin may choose to reshuffle his inner circle.

The most important question surrounding the election is not who will be president, but who will be prime minister. Mikhail ChigarDozhd (TVRain), founding editor of Russia’s only independent news television channel, wrote in an article for Russia magazine atlantic council website.

“Once a new president is elected, Putin will have an excuse to dissolve the government and form a new one,” he said.

Russia’s prime minister, currently held by Mikhail Mishustin, is the second-in-command – the man who would replace Putin if anything happened to him.

“This ceremony is a political watershed that will determine what Russia will look like in the coming years and possibly what Russia will look like after Putin finally leaves the scene,” Zygal said.

write on Foreign affairsRussia experts Michael Kimmage and Maria Lippman say that even if Putin does exit the stage, the nature of his regime means his eventual successor will operate in a similar manner — to ensure his or her survival.

“They will retain power in the military and security services. They do not want to see internal conflict jeopardize Russia’s geopolitical standing, nor do they want to abandon the ideological structures put in place by Putin,” they wrote.

“This raises the sobering possibility that the eternal Putinism now centered on one man may outlast Putin himself.”

Russian election rigging will continue.