Putin’s 'DIRTY election campaign' SLAMMED as opponents warn of 'DANGEROUS Russia ABYSS'
Getty Vladimir Putin secured his fourth term in power on Sunday after he won a landslide victory
Ksenia Sobchak, the only female election candidate, slammed the Russian leader for his devious methods of attaining victory. She stated: “I do acknowledge that today Putin enjoys majority support, secured by various methods.” She proceeded to launch an attack on Mr Putin’s “dirty campaign particularly the arrests of our supporters in various cities, as well as attempts at intimidating us”. Candidate Grigory Yavlinsky also showed his disdain for the result and claimed it was not a “real election”.
He then warned: “The county is moving to a dangerous abyss, bad times are ahead and there are fewer opportunities to change this.” Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who emerged from the election with the third largest vote, stated that if elections had taken place properly the Russian leader would not have more than 40 per cent of support. He explained: “In reality, Putin should have a lesser percentage. “There is just one candidate from the Kremlin and all others are 'pugs'.
Russia election in pictures: Putin wins six more years in power Mon, March 19, 2018 Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 13 President Vladimir Putin speaks as he meets with confidants at his campaign headquarters in Moscow
“There is no democracy in Russia, there is no competition. Meanwhile, candidate Pavel Grudinin added that Sunday marked the most “dishonest” and “dirtiest” vote since the collapse of the Soviet Union. He went on: “Regretfully, opposition politician Alexei Navalny was right. “One can vote two or three times, and there are such examples in Moscow region.”
Vladimir Putin secured his fourth term in power on Sunday after he won a landslide victory. Overcoming mass allegations of corruption and vote fixing, the Russian leader emerged with 73.9 per cent of the vote. This marks a stark rise from the 64 per cent that Mr Putin received back in 2012. Mr Putin was up against seven other candidates, including millionaire communist Pavel Grudinin, former television host Ksenia Sobchak and veteran nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Getty Mr Grudinin said that Sunday marked the most 'dishonest' vote since the collapse of the Soviet Union
Getty Assuming Mr Putin serves out his entire term, he will have spent nearly 25 years in power