Sergei Karpukhin Sputnik Kremlin Pool via Associated Press Since a controversial constitutional reform in 2020, Vladimir Putin, who came to power in 2000, has the theoretical possibility of remain in the Kremlin until 2036.
Russia formalized on Thursday the date of March 17, 2024 for its next presidential election, a vote for which the candidacy and victory of Vladimir Putin, undisputed master of Russia for almost a quarter of a century, are in little doubt.
At 71, the Russian leader, who methodically eliminated all opposition in Russia, has the right, thanks to a constitutional reform in 2020, to run in 2024 and then in 2030.
Senators of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, unanimously decided to “set the presidential election for March 17, 2024,” shortly after the second anniversary of the launch of the offensive in Ukraine.
“This decision practically kicks off the presidential campaign,” welcomed the President of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko.
“The most important task today is to ensure maximum support for our leader Vladimir Putin” during the vote, said Andrei Turchak, secretary of the General Council of the United Russia presidential party.
He said added that the presidential election should demonstrate that Russia “has confidence in its strength and in its victory”, leaving no doubt as to the candidacy of the master of the Kremlin.
While Russia claimed in September 2022 the annexation of four new Ukrainian regions that it partially occupies (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhia), the presidential election must also be the “culmination of reunification”, said Ms. Matvienko .
The vote will also be held on the eve of the tenth anniversary of Russia's annexation in 2014 of the first Ukrainian territory, the Crimean peninsula.
Rediscovered confidence
After a year 2022 marked by setbacks on the front and a volley of Western sanctions, Vladimir Putin appears at the end of 2023 in a better position with the failure of the counter-offensive launched this summer by Ukraine, the crumbling of European support and American in Kiev and the recovery of the national economy.
Almost all major opponents, such as anti-corruption activist Alexeï Navalny, have been thrown in prison or driven into exile and any criticism of the assault on Ukraine is severely repressed. One of them, former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, was assassinated in 2015 in Moscow.
Speaking on Thursday at an investment forum in Moscow, Vladimir Putin said he was “convinced that no one can stop us or slow down our development.”
Ms. Matvienko welcomed the a “consolidation like never before” of Russian society around power, despite “attempts by the enemy to weaken Russia”.
Since a controversial constitutional reform adopted in the midst of a pandemic in 2020, Vladimir Putin, who came to power in 2000, has the possibility of remaining in the Kremlin until 2036.
“The only choice”
Although he has not yet officially announced his presidential candidacy, there is little doubt about his desire to stay in the Kremlin for six more years. The Russian president said in September that he was postponing his decision on this subject until “the end of the year”.
His spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, indicated in mid-November that “the moment of announcement approaching” and insisted that Mr. Putin had no credible competitor.
The Russian president will therefore be eagerly awaited during his major press conference on December 14, coupled with a question-and-answer session with the population.
“Our people will make the only right choice possible […] ] by voting for Russia, for victory,” Valentina Matvienko has already said.
The President of the Electoral Commission, Ella Pamfilova, present at the vote of the Federation Council on Thursday, has for his part declared that the presidential election would take place in a “toxic atmosphere” due to the “Russophobia” of the West and “absurd” sanctions.
The work of the media during this election will be complicated by a tightening of coverage conditions decided by the authorities in November. Independent journalists, bloggers and Russian media employees working from abroad should, for example, not have access to voting or counting.
The election will also take place in Ukrainian regions occupied by the Russia, where martial law is currently in force.