Russians start to vote in election Putin will win
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What happened
Russians began voting Friday in a three-day election that is all but guaranteed to hand President Vladimir Putin a fifth term.
Who said what
The Russian election is a "sham," said Sam Greene, a director at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington. "The Kremlin controls who's on the ballot" and "every aspect of the voting and the vote-counting process."
The commentary
Putin's opponents are mostly in prison, exiled or dead. His three authorized rivals are low-profile politicians from token opposition parties. Yes, "Putin is certain to win," Politico said, but Russia's opposition is determined to give him a "bloody nose," urging protesters to vote en masse at noon on Sunday to "showcase popular revulsion" at Putin's reign.
What next?
Russians will "doubtless wake up to find President Putin has been reelected" on March 18, and "when he appears at a victory rally in Moscow, he may even shed a tear — as he did after the 2012 presidential election," the BBC said. Then it is six more years of "the illusion of democracy."
