Putin put to the test as Russians go to the polls
Source: Agencies |
December 5, 2011, Monday
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Russians went to the polls yesterday in a parliamentary election seen as a test of Vladimir Putin's personal authority before his planned return to the presidency.
Putin remains by far the most popular politician in the vast country of more than 140 million people but there are some signs Russians may be wearying of his cultivated strong-man image after 12 years in power.
The 59-year-old ex-spy looked stern and said only that he hoped for good results for his ruling United Russia party as he walked past supporters to vote in Moscow.
"I will vote for Putin. Everything he gets involved in, he manages well," said Father Vasily, 61, a white-bearded monk from a nearby monastery. "It's too early for a new generation. They will be in charge in another 20 years. We are Russians, we are Asians, we need a strong leadership."
A Western-financed electoral watchdog and two liberal media outlets said their sites had been shut down by hackers intent on silencing allegations of violations. Sites belonging to the Ekho Moskvy radio station, online news portal Slon.ru and the watchdog Golos went down at around 8am.
Golos said it had been excluded from several polling booths in the Siberian region of Tomsk. Last week, Moscow prosecutors launched an investigation into Golos after lawmakers objected to its Western financing.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who is stepping aside next year so that Putin can return to the presidency, has dismissed talk of electoral fraud.
Opinion polls before the vote put Putin's party on course to win a majority but less than the 315 seats it now has in the 450-seat lower house of parliament, the State Duma.
If Putin's party gets less than two-thirds of seats, it would be stripped of its so-called constitutional majority which allows it to change the constitution and even approve the impeachment of the president.
Some voters said they would vote for Just Russia, which calls itself "new socialist," or the Communists, who retain support largely among poorer citizens 20 years after the fall of the Soviet Union.
"United Russia has lost touch with reality," said a 30-year-old history teacher in St Petersburg. He was planning to switch his vote to the Communists.
Others in Russia's second city said they would vote for liberal, Western-leaning Yabloko but the biggest liberal opposition group was barred from taking part.
Supporters say Putin saved Russia during his 2000-2008 presidency, restoring Kremlin control over sprawling regions and reviving an economy mired in post-Soviet chaos.
His use of military force to crush a rebellion in the southern Muslim region of Chechnya also won him broad support.
Putin remains by far the most popular politician in the vast country of more than 140 million people but there are some signs Russians may be wearying of his cultivated strong-man image after 12 years in power.
The 59-year-old ex-spy looked stern and said only that he hoped for good results for his ruling United Russia party as he walked past supporters to vote in Moscow.
"I will vote for Putin. Everything he gets involved in, he manages well," said Father Vasily, 61, a white-bearded monk from a nearby monastery. "It's too early for a new generation. They will be in charge in another 20 years. We are Russians, we are Asians, we need a strong leadership."
A Western-financed electoral watchdog and two liberal media outlets said their sites had been shut down by hackers intent on silencing allegations of violations. Sites belonging to the Ekho Moskvy radio station, online news portal Slon.ru and the watchdog Golos went down at around 8am.
Golos said it had been excluded from several polling booths in the Siberian region of Tomsk. Last week, Moscow prosecutors launched an investigation into Golos after lawmakers objected to its Western financing.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who is stepping aside next year so that Putin can return to the presidency, has dismissed talk of electoral fraud.
Opinion polls before the vote put Putin's party on course to win a majority but less than the 315 seats it now has in the 450-seat lower house of parliament, the State Duma.
If Putin's party gets less than two-thirds of seats, it would be stripped of its so-called constitutional majority which allows it to change the constitution and even approve the impeachment of the president.
Some voters said they would vote for Just Russia, which calls itself "new socialist," or the Communists, who retain support largely among poorer citizens 20 years after the fall of the Soviet Union.
"United Russia has lost touch with reality," said a 30-year-old history teacher in St Petersburg. He was planning to switch his vote to the Communists.
Others in Russia's second city said they would vote for liberal, Western-leaning Yabloko but the biggest liberal opposition group was barred from taking part.
Supporters say Putin saved Russia during his 2000-2008 presidency, restoring Kremlin control over sprawling regions and reviving an economy mired in post-Soviet chaos.
His use of military force to crush a rebellion in the southern Muslim region of Chechnya also won him broad support.
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