President Vladimir Putin re-elected with highest voter turnout in history
(Baonghean.vn) - Preliminary vote counting results of more than 90% of the votes show that Mr. Vladimir Putin, 71 years old, won overwhelmingly in the 2024 Russian presidential election. Thus, Mr. Putin will lead Russia for another 6 years, term 2024-2030.
According to TASS news agency, data from the Russian Central Election Commission showed that Vladimir Putin received 87.21% of the votes. Meanwhile, the remaining candidates, including Nikolai Kharitonov with 4.28% of the votes, Vladislav Davanko - 3.94%, and Leonid Slutsky - 3.16%.
For the first time, the Russian presidential election took place over three days. Voters this year went to the polls from March 15-17, reaching a turnout of 74.22%. This rate is significantly higher than the turnout in 2018 (67.54%), and much lower than the largest presidential election in Russian history on June 12, 1991 with 74.66%.
This year's Russian presidential election is also the first time that electronic voting has been used. The online voting rate on the federal platform reached 94% (4.4 million people). According to the electronic voting results, Mr. Vladimir Putin ranked first with 87.41% of the votes and candidate Davankov ranked second with 6.28%.
In the new regions that will join Russia in September 2023, the vote for Vladimir Putin was higher than the average for all of Russia. Specifically, in Kherson, Mr. Putin received 88.12% of the votes, in the Zaporozhye region – 92.83%, in Lugansk – 94.12% and in Donetsk – 95.23%.
Speaking at the election headquarters after the preliminary vote count, President Putin expressed gratitude to all Russians who went to vote, especially highlighting the contributions of soldiers participating in special military operations.
Answering questions from the press, President Putin highlighted the tasks of the new term as solving problems in special military operations and strengthening the country's defense capabilities. Mr. Putin emphasized that the Russian military's activities are not only of an active defense nature, when referring to recent statements by French President Emmanuel Macron.
President Putin said he recognized the effectiveness of the Russian government and the Central Bank. Therefore, the Russian President is in no hurry to form a new government because the current term still has about 2 months to end.
Mr. Putin said he will implement all plans to develop Russia and achieve the goals mentioned in his Federal Message at the end of February.
Following President Putin's overwhelming victory, Russian and world leaders sent congratulations.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram: "Congratulations to Vladimir Putin on his brilliant victory in the Russian presidential election."
In a statement from Venezuela's Foreign Ministry, President Nicolas Maduro congratulated the Russian leader "on his resounding victory in the elections."
The West has begun to criticize the results of the Russian elections. The White House does not consider the 2024 Russian presidential election to be “free and fair”. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the election took place in conditions of “lack of choice”. The Polish Foreign Ministry criticized the conduct of voting in Donbass and Novorossia.
