Putin Wins Russian Presidential Poll, Mocks US Democracy

Vladimir Putin wins a fifth term as Russian President by a landslide of 87%, according to Russian exit polls.

When election officials said results gave him more than 87% of the vote, he said Russia’s democracy was more transparent than many in the West.

President Putin did hail Russia’s presidential campaign saying it is more advanced than the US, citing Russia’s use of online voting, which officials said brought in eight million voters.

The Russian leader said it is not like in the us with mail-in voting where one can buy a vote for $10.

He is now set to stay in power until at least 2030, and has ruled Russia since 2000 the longest serving kremlin leader since soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Western countries lined up to condemn the vote as neither free nor fair.

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But elsewhere, North Korean state media reported that Kim Jong Un sent Putin a message congratulating him on his victory.

At his press conference, Putin referred to Navalny by name for the first time since his death, saying he had supported a proposal to release him in exchange for prisoners held in Western countries.

The person who was talking to me hadn’t finished his sentence and I said ‘I agree’, Putin said.

Putin was first nominated as acting president when former Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned.

He then won his first presidential election in March 2000 and a second term in 2004.

After two stints as president, Putin switched back to being prime minister in 2008 to circumvent a constitutional ban on holding more than two consecutive terms as head of state.

But he returned to the presidency in 2012 and won a fourth term in 2018.