The article discusses how Russia uses fake voting to legitimize its rule, particularly in the occupied territories of Ukraine. The writer highlights that this is not Russia’s first experience with fake voting, citing similar instances during the annexation of Crimea and the independence referendums in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in 2014.
The article also mentions evidence of large-scale vote rigging in Russia’s 2024 presidential election in the occupied territories. Roman Udot, an expert at Russian election watchdog Golos, stated that the results reported from Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts are round figures that do not fit normal distribution. According to him, the chance of these round figures being real results is extremely low.
Sources in the occupied territories told the Kyiv Independent that Russian troops forced voters en masse to vote in the 2024 Russian presidential election. The article also notes that the alleged number of voters reported by Russia exceeds the regions’ population. For example, around 3 million people live in the four occupied oblasts, but Russian authorities reported 4.5 million voters.
The writer concludes that Russia has no genuine elections or referendums and instead uses fake voting to legitimize its rule. The article highlights that Russia is an authoritarian dictatorship where opposition candidates are not allowed to run in elections, independent media are not allowed to operate, and opposition leaders are often jailed or killed.