Presidential elections in Russia: most tense in last 15 years
Moscow (AsiaNews) - The March 4 Russian presidential are shaping up to be the most tense since the 1990s. The election campaign has been marked by unprecedented street protests and a growing political activism among the opposition, sparked by the announcement in September of the candidacy of Vladimir Putin - already twice president - to the Kremlin and the complaints of extensive fraud in recent parliamentary won by the ruling party United Russia, Putin's party. Nobody doubts that the former KGB agent will return to the post of head of state.
According to recent polls, Vladimir Vladmirovich, has more than 63% of the vote, and should easily win the first round and a third term that will keep him at the helm of the Federation for the next six years.
Apparently, the large protests against the prime minister and twice president have not undermined his popularity and the new extra-parliamentary opposition movement has failed to find a leader to contrast Putin's popularity in any of the other four candidates. Vladimir Vladimirivoch's rivals are harmless. These are two veterans of Russian politics, such as the nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and the Communist Gennady Ziuganov, the little-known leader of Fair Russia, Sergei Mironov, and a new face on which, however, weighs the suspected connivance with the Kremlin, the billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.
Less certain is the fate of the outgoing president, Dmitri Medvedev, who is stepping aside to make room for his more popular mentor. In September, Putin has promised that if he wins, he will appoint him prime minister, but few believe that he will keep the promise. Medvedev is now a halved and implausible leader. According to some analysts, he could return to the post of the prime minister for only a few months, to later vacate it to figures of greater weight and authority, even in the eyes of the opposition and the West, such as former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin.
Another unknown is how "Tsar Vlad" will react to protests that promise to continue unabated, in Moscow and in the country, to the cry of "fair elections" and a "Russia without Putin". The writer Boris Akunin, the new opposition leader, fears that he may use force to suppress dissent. Others, more optimistic, are hoping he may make some concessions, in an attempt to maintain balance and legitimate his throne. It is said that Putin once president, will call for new laws, as sought by the opposition, and advised to create a parliament that will have a real counterpart in the Kremlin. But opening up to the public, allowing clear elections and introducing pluralism into the political system would undermine the very system of power that secured him the command in the last 12 years.
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