MOSCOW, March 11. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin may win as much as 82% of all votes in the March 15-17 presidential election, with turnout expected at 71%, according to the published results of a poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) conducted on March 6.
"The estimated turnout for the upcoming presidential election in Russia is 71% <…> Vladimir Putin may get 82% of the votes," the pollsters said.
According to VCIOM’s calculations, the expected vote counts of the other candidates are as follows: Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) will come in second at 6%, Vladislav Davankov of the New People party will tie the CPRF for second place also at 6%, while Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) will garner 5%.
According to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (POF), conducted on March 4-6 among 1,500 respondents, Putin could garner 80% of all votes, with Kharitonov coming in at 5.7%, Slutsky at 5.6%, and Davankov at 4.6%. Voter turnout, according to the POF poll, will be 69.8%.
Under Russia’s law on presidential elections, publishing opinion polls on a presidential election is forbidden within five days before the last day of voting and on election day itself.
The Federation Council, or upper house of Russia’s parliament, designated March 17, 2024 as the date of the presidential election. The Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) then announced that voting will take place over three days, from March 15 through 17, making it Russia’s first three-day presidential election.