Putin rivals claim he falsely doubled his vote in Russia's election

Putin rivals claim he falsely doubled his vote in Russia's election



Vladimir Putin has been accused of fraudulently doubling his vote share in the dirtiest election since the fall of the Soviet Union.



The Russian strongman won Sunday's election with a reported 77 per cent of the vote on a 67 per cent turnout, his best result in four elections which grants him another six years in power.



But his political opponents have accused him of using blatantly dishonest tactics amid video evidence of ballot boxes being stuffed, claims of goons waiting at polling stations, and other irregularities in voting data.



Ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky - who came third - said rigging was so great that Putin's real level of support in a free poll would be no more than 40 per cent.



Communist candidate and runner-up Pavel Grudinin said the poll was 'dishonest' and 'the dirtiest' since the Soviet Union collapsed.



'Regretfully, [opposition politician Alexei] Navalny was right. One can vote two or three times, and there are such examples in Moscow region.'





Navalny - seen as the biggest threat to Putin - was banned from standing but his calls for a boycott of the election flopped if the turnout figure is accurate.



The independent mayor of Yekaterinburg Yevgeny Roizman warned of a lurch towards authoritarianism with Putin back in the Kremin.



'The quality of life will get progressively worse,' he said.



'But each new election turnout will be higher, the president's rating will keep rising — and North Korea will grow closer and closer.'



Zhirinovsky - aged 71 and a veteran of six presidential elections - said: 'There is no democracy [in Russia], there is no competition.





just one candidate from the Kremlin and all others are 'pugs'.



'In reality, Putin should have a lesser percentage.'



His genuine figure in a free European-style election would be 'no more than 40 per cent', he insisted.



The only female candidate, TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak, said sarcastically: 'I do acknowledge that today Putin enjoys majority support, secured by various methods.'



She described a 'dirty campaign…particularly…the arrests of our supporters in various cities, as well as attempts at intimidating us.'



Another veteran candidate trounced in the poll, liberal Grigory Yavlinsky, insisted it was not a 'real election'.



'The county is moving to a dangerous abyss, b*d times are ahead and there are fewer opportunities to change this,' he warned.



Critics looked at the results in Chechnya - where almost 92 per cent were reported to have backed Putin - as evidence is suspicious results.



Putin won the same percentage in Tuva, home region of loyalist defence minister Sergei Shoigu in Siberia.



Putin is now poised to shake-up his regime after his election landslide, with lacklustre premier Dmitry Medvedev tipped for the axe by the scheduled 7 May inauguration date.





Veteran foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who led the charge against Britain in the current nerve agent spy scandal, is also set to depart.



Putin - who will be 71 if he completes a full term - is seen as wanting to revitalise his regime by propelling younger cadres into power and grooming an ultra-loyal successor to protect himself from corruption charges in his retirement.



The Russian constitution bans Putin from standing for election again, unless he changes the rules. 



Memes of the all-powerful Putin went wild on Russian social media - mocking him as a tsar-for-life, and morphing into Soviet-era stagnation ruler Leonid Brezhnev - or Kim Jong-un.



Putin's supporters hailed the result and claimed it showed Britain's attempts to interfere with the poll - by exploiting the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning - had spectacularly failed.



Valentina Matviyenko - speaker of the Russian upper house of parliament - hit out at the 'brazen and cynical interference in Russia's internal affairs'.



She wanted this 'will not be left unnoticed', making clear she was referring to the West.



'We faced a really powerful Russophobic information, political and economic pressure on the country, which was expected to influence the attitudes of people,' she said.



The aim was to force people to boycott the poll or vote against Putin, she indicated.



'We proved once again that one cannot speak the language of ultimatums with our country,' said Matviyenko.



'The opposite happened. People got united … and the fact that more people came to polling stations than at the previous election is the main sign.'



Putin in his victory speech said the outcome showed the 'confidence and hope' of the Russian people.



Hinting at changes, he said: 'Our thoughts will turn to the future of our great country -and the future of our children.'