Dear CCI Friends,
Peter Clark, a member of the CCI community and a Russian/American citizen residing in Yakutsk, Siberia, and one of our Russian hosts over the years shares his thoughts on the Russian presidential election with CCI.
Sincerely,
Center for Citizen Initiatives
March 17, 2024
A Letter From Peter Clark,
I want to share some of my personal thoughts about the Russian Presidential Election, which I hope will be of interest to you. I also grant permission for you to share this with anyone you like without any need to get my permission.
I became a Russian citizen in 2021, after the Russian government made it possible to become a Russian citizen without giving up one’s original citizenship. So I am a dual citizen of both Russia and the USA. I have been living in Russia since 2004, and I consider Yakutsk, Russia to be my “home” now. I still have my sons, grandchildren and now a great grandchild living in the USA, so I do still consider myself to be an American with strong ties to the USA. That being said, I have my wife who is a Russian citizen and my Russian extended family here in Russia as well, so I have strong ties to Russia too.
I did vote in the Russian Presidential election. Nobody “made” me vote. Nobody put any kind of pressure on me to vote at all, nor did anybody put any pressure on me to vote for a particular candidate. Of course, there were the usual and typical campaign activities – and I was aware of them, just like anyone who was going about their regular daily life here in Russia. I don’t consider campaign posters or campaign speeches to be some kind of “pressure”. It is perfectly normal for such activities to occur, and I think that the same sort of activities happen everywhere that there are elections including in the USA. If anything, in my opinion the Russian election campaigning was more subdued than in the USA.
I have seen a lot of comments from Western pundits and politicians suggesting that somehow the Russian election was “rigged” or illegitimate in some way. A lot of these comments are coming from the US, which given the state of US elections in the recent memory, would seem to be a lot of projection. As far as I can tell, the Russian elections were run about as free and fair as it is possible to make. The “rules” for running for office in Russia are clearly spelled out in Russian law. Recognized political parties do have advantages in the process over independents, and a candidate that is running as a representative of one of the recognized political parties has fewer requirements for obtaining voter’s signatures and other hurdles. I point this out because Vladimir Putin ran as an independent. The requirements for getting on the ballot seem reasonable enough to me and in my opinion easier than a candidate for President in the US faces. For example, in Russia, a candidate has to prove a certain level of support within Russia to be on the ballot – primarily by collecting a certain number of voter signatures. In the US, a candidate has to do a similar process, but in all 50 states or at least in every state where the candidate wants to be on the ballot in that state.
All Russian citizens are eligible to vote for the President directly. The Russian President is elected based on the direct popular vote, unlike in the USA. In the US, only US citizens who are a resident of one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia are able to vote for the electors who will do the actual voting for President. It is not unusual in the USA for a candidate to win the popular vote but not the electoral vote – it has happened on many occasions. Russian citizens who reside in the USA can vote in the Russian Presidential Election. US citizens who have their residence in Russia are not eligible to vote in the US Presidential election. So which country is more democratic?
The final counting of all of the ballots in Russia is still on-going as I write this, but it is already very clear that Vladimir Putin will win by a large majority of the votes. It is also already clear that a record turnout for the election has occurred. Neither of these facts have been a surprise for me. This is exactly what I have expected.
I think that pretty much everyone in Russia expected Putin to win by a large majority. This being the case, why the large, record setting turnout? I think this was a clear expression of the Russian populace to the rest of the world that the Russian people support Putin and that Russia is united.
This is in sharp contrast with the reality in the USA. This is in sharp contrast to the reality in most of the Western “democracies”, which in the case of the EU is no democracy at all.
The people of Russia have spoken and have spoken loudly and clearly. The US and its vassals should pay attention, but I don’t expect this will happen any time soon.
Peter Clark