Putin’s win

Despite perceptions in much of the West that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a strongman who rules through fear and coercion, he remains broadly popular in the country itself, maintaining an approval rating hovering around 70 per cent. The recently-concluded parliamentary elections in Russia, however, should not be seen as a referendum on Putin himself – largely because almost all the main parties that were allowed to participate are loyal to Putin. His own United Russia won 343 of the 450 parliamentary seats while the rest were divided among the pro-Putin Communist, LDPR and A Just Russia parties. Only two opposition parties were allowed to be on the ballot and they received less than 3 per cent of the vote between them. The central theme of this election was apathy.

The low turnout could also be explained by the prolonged economic downturn in Russia. One of Putin’s largest failures has been his inability to develop Russia into a state that isn’t reliant only on oil and natural gas. The worldwide collapse in energy prices hit Russia particularly hard. It certainly wasn’t helped by the imposition of sanctions by the EU after its military incursions into Ukraine and annexation of the Crimea and some polls suggested that Putin’s adventurism in Syria was not broadly popular. Ultimately, though, Putin’s brand of machismo nationalism and tough talk is still popular and this election could just be a sign that it is hard to drum up enthusiasm for someone who has now controlled Russia for 17 years.

Nasir Hasan

Karachi