That’s the headline of this AP story; gotta be my favorite in recent memory. I mean, it shoulda been followed by “; duh”.
:rolleyes:
I, for one, am surprised to find that Putin apparently plans to still hold an election in 2024.
I’m pretty sure it’ll be an “election”, not an election.
I am actually a little surprised. Putin has already dealt with the term limit problem once before. The limit is two consecutive terms and this is his fourth term as president.
Maybe he is concerned about finding someone as reliable as Medvedev was to keep the chair warm. Good puppets can be hard to find.
I know he shares Trump’s inability to admit he’ll ever die (but is probably much healthier than Trump, to be fair) but what are Putin’s succession plans for when he eventually follows all the czars preceding him? Après moi, le deluge?
Prolly more alone the lines of “après moi, que m’importe?”
Armando Iannucci is planning a sequel.
Passed 383-0 with 43 abstentions (that will be dealt with later, no doubt).
Why do fascists even bother with this kind theatre? 
It fools no one.
The third act is not needed; this is a one-act kind of play where everyone knows the outcome.
The way he’s dealt with this in the past is by alternating between the President and Prime Minister positions, with the dates of his transitions coincidentally being the same as the dates of constitutional changes to which position holds power. I guess he just got tired of playing Constitutional hokey-pokey, and wants to be done with it once and for all.
Aye; that’s obvious to everyone, from the lowest peon citizen to the highest ranking members in Russia. It’s also stupidly obvious to everyone outside of Russia. So why bother? You’re a fucking dictator; own it, you coward. Just declare that things will now be this way and be done with it. Why the theatre that everyone knows is theatre? Even Kim Jong Un does it for some reason.
I know there’s no real answer that makes much sense; I’m just musing here.
High Russian officials must be sighing with relief. If Putin had to take the premiership again, with some minion as president, that minion might suffer a shortened lifespan, allowing Putin yet another non-consecutive term. Oh gosh, COVID strikes again!
I have a politically active Russian colleague who would disagree with you. She loathes Putin, and has a particular interest in the electoral system, including serving as a scrutineer for the presidential elections. From what she has observed (much to her disappointment) there is no vote tampering. From what I gather from speaking to her and other likeminded Russian citizens, electoral subterfuge tends to be limited to sidelining opposition candidates, but even that isn’t strictly necessary—Putin really is quite popular among the electorate and would handily win another term even in a fair race.
And that’s why he engages in the ruse. How many of those people who are happy to vote for President-yet-again Putin wouldn’t be happy with Dictator Putin?
The thing is, we think of elections as methods for choosing leaders. Dictators don’t see them that way. To them, they’re how the public pledges fealty.