Whatever percentage of the vote Russian strongman Vladimir Putin claims to have won in recent elections, observers have said there were serious flaws in the process.
Russians have already taken to the streets to protest against the outcome, but it does not seem to have dissuaded Putin from taking back the seat of power. It is amply clear that Mr Putin craved a return to the hotseat since Dimitry Medvedev rose to ‘power’ because Russia’s Constitution prevented another term for Putin.
Many believe that Putin pulled the strings all along and led from behind the scenes. But a harsh crackdown on the loosely-termed Russian ‘Opposition’ on Monday has done nothing to help assuage the general public.
Perhaps the sight of thousands of protesters reminded Putin of the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, where demonstrators camped on Kiev’s main square after a fraud-tainted election victory by a Kremlin-backed candidate.
Key to developments will be the loyalty of security forces and the army, whose wages were recently doubled. In Monday’s protests, these same security forces were not at all afraid of using force to disperse those who had gathered at Pushkin Square. Another protest has been planned for Saturday in Moscow and other cities, in an effort to keep up momentum. But one must ask the question: Do these people have any chance of taking on the might of the Kremlin?
Even the independent Russian elections watchdog Golos said incomplete reports from its observers at individual polling station counts contradicted the official vote count, indicating that Putin was perilously close to the 50% mark needed for a first-round victory.
Putin claimed victory outside the Kremlin on Sunday night, before all the votes were counted. His eyes filled with tears and said his supporters had defeated opponents intent on “destroying Russia’s statehood and usurping power”. This is a clear attempt to stir up feelings of nationalism. But on Monday, protesters mocked Putin’s tears as evidence of his fear of the Opposition.
In an apparent bid to soothe anger, the outgoing President has demanded an explanation for last year’s rejection of registration for the People’s Freedom Party, an organisation led by some of the Opposition’s most prominent figures.
In another apparent attempt to soothe protesters, Medvedev also ordered the authorities to re-examine the conviction of imprisoned former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and more than 30 others who are being considered by the Opposition as political prisoners.
The road ahead is not at all going to be a smooth one, and the question which remains to be answered is whether momentum will be lost, or whether protesters will turn out in ever greater numbers and with increasing frequency.