Having defeated the political opposition by means of the administration’s funds, and falsifying results in the parliamentary elections, Putin has given himself a clear advantage in the upcoming presidential elections. However, there is another side to the coin: the lack of worthy competitors will make the elections descend into farce.


In the last elections fewer than half of the Russian electorate voted for Putin, but he nevertheless became president, because they did not include the votes of the whole electorate, but only those who took part in voting. This time the percentage of people “voting with their feet”, that is, failing to attend polling stations, will almost certainly be higher. A victory won on that basis will be tainted with illegitimacy.

All things considered, it appears that Putin understands this. Threats by the communists and the Yabloko blok to boycott the presidential elections spoil his carefully written game-plan and leave Putin at a loss. This self-confident sportsman faces the prospect of winning the prize without a fight. In conversation yesterday with journalists after the “Talk to the people” broadcase, Putin spoke clearly and ambiguously about this issue: “I think that boycotting any election would be a stupid and harmful venture. It is disruptive, it may disrupt normal life in our country, both politics and the economy. The economy may suffer. I view it as a cowardly position. It would be much better, even for those elements who believe they have no chance (although I believe that there is always a chance), if they could speak up honestly and compete properly, according to the norms of the state, using the pre-election hustings to make their case”

In any case it seems that neither the right-wing nor the left has spoken its last word on the subject. Accustomed to political manoeuvring, they are unlikely to approach even such a quiet revolt as an election boycott “on their knees”. The Kremlin is likely to make them some promise, and in return they will put up there hopeless candiates for this parody of an election whose result we already know in advance.