On Thursday, the Kremlin hailed the overwhelming triumph of the constitutional reforms to extend the rule of Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, to 2036.
The Central Elections Commission announced that the national vote supporting the extension of Putin’s administration was 77.92%. After all votes had been counted, a turnout of 67.97% of voters had backed the reforms.
Speaking to reporters, Kremlin’s Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said the executive branch of government ‘definitely considers this as a triumph’ and perceived it as a ‘referendum of trust’ in President Putin.
“Now that Russians have given such support for changes to the constitution, this will all become the foundation for a better future for our country.
“It was very difficult to predict the extremely high turnout and the extremely high support”, he said.
On June 25, a nationwide vote on constitutional reforms to extend the government of the Russian President was casted. Election officials opened polling units in the lead-up to the official voting day scheduled for July 1, 2020, in order to reduce the risk of overcrowding that could spread coronavirus infections.
The vote, which was initially scheduled for April 22, was postponed by the Kremlin, as coronavirus infections increased and officials had to impose restrictions to curb the spread.
The constitutional reforms proposed earlier this year by Putin, will strengthen presidential and parliamentary powers, enshrine traditional values including ban on gay marriage, guarantee better pensions and minimum wages and also, allow him to run twice after his 6-year term in 2024.
Copies of the new constitution were made available for sale in bookshops weeks before the national polls.
Alexei Navalny, a Russian politician and anti-corruption activist, faulted the result, stating on Twitter that the votes were faked and had nothing in common with people’s views. Also, the Golos Election Monitoring Organization said it had received about 2,100 complaints of possible election violations and reports of workers being forced to vote.
However, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Russia, Ella Pamfilova, dismissed the criticisms by declaring the vote valid and legitimate.
