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Raffles, ballot-stuffing and brute force: How Putin guaranteed victory in referendum to rule for life

Many polling stations outside Moscow were working in outdoor settings - Vladimir Smirnov/Tass via Getty Images
Many polling stations outside Moscow were working in outdoor settings - Vladimir Smirnov/Tass via Getty Images

Voting at a playground and out of the boot of a car, over the last week the Kremlin has employed myriad ways to hold a nationwide vote allowing Vladimir Putin to stay in power in 2036.

Mr Putin, who has ruled Russia for 20 years, would have been forced to step down when his current term in office ends in 2024.

However, constitutional changes that he floated earlier this year re-set the clock on term limits for the sitting president.

Voting on the amendments is not covered by Russia’s strict, if not always enforceable election laws, so the Kremlin came up with new, lax rules.

Worried about delaying the vote, election authorities allowed the voting to be held in the space of a week and in outdoor settings.

Social media was flooded with photos and videos of election officials, all  in full hospital-style PPE, leisurely handing out the ballots at playgrounds, on tree stumps, next to a drinking party on a bench and even out of the boot of a car.

So many pictures of people using tree stumps were posted that they became a meme.

Many election observers and journalists don’t appear to have quite as much fun.

Journalist David Frenkel's arm was broken by a police officer after he arrived at a polling station to check reports of vote-rigging.

The polling station’s chairman later insisted that the man fell down and injured himself.

Journalist David Frenkel's arm was broken by a policeman at a polling station in St. Petersburg - David Frenkel/AP via David Frenkel
Journalist David Frenkel's arm was broken by a policeman at a polling station in St. Petersburg - David Frenkel/AP via David Frenkel

In the city of Saratov on the Volga River, election observers saw two neat piles of ballot papers sitting on top of scattered papers in a transparent box at a local polling station, prompting accusations of ballot stuffing.

Desperate for a high turnout, which potentially makes it easier to rig the results, regional authorities lured voters to polling stations with the promises of raffles and prizes.

The oil-rich Yamal-Nenetsk district was offering smartphones and laptops to lucky winners.

In Siberia’s city of Omsk, an election commission member happened to win an apartment. The retail union that organised the raffle explained to the Tass news agency that the woman was simply lucky.

In Moscow, where voters are entered the Million of Prizes raffle, Mr Putin is reported to have received his free badge, wrist-band, pen, pocket calendar and a scratch card for the lottery.

Voters in Moscow were entered a raffle for "Million of Prizes" - Stanislav Krasilnikov/Tass via Getty Images
Voters in Moscow were entered a raffle for "Million of Prizes" - Stanislav Krasilnikov/Tass via Getty Images

Early results were also released, contrary to usual rules, infuriating some officials. Ella Pamfilova, Central Election Commission chief, earlier this week criticised Russian state-owned pollster for publishing exit poll results before the voting was over, but lamented the lack of legal means to stop that.

Two days later, Ms Pamfilova gave the green light to releasing early voting results from the Far East, more than five hours before the voting would end in Russia’s west.

Many Kremlin critics have said that the devil-may-care attitudes of election officials have left ample room for skewing the results in Mr Putin’s favour.

At-home voting was not restricted, and was cited a major risk for multiple voting.

Mikhail Baturin, a member of a local election commission in Moscow, raised the alarm on the final election day on Wednesday after he saw that at least 30 out of 430 at-home voters marked down in the log book as those who voted at the polling station.

“There are no procedures, and no one even bothered to follow any rules,” Mr Baturin, who managed to get the commission to cancel the at-home votes, told The Telegraph

“This is really funny,” he said, when asked about the official results.

The ballot count at his precinct showed a 52 percent vote against Mr Putin’s amendments.