Communist Party candidate Nikolay Kharitonov is the runner-up with 4.32%
Ria Novosti reports: the total turnout, according to the data at 20:37 was 74.22%
Putin's preliminary result is a record in the history of modern Russia. In 2018, he gained 76.69% in the presidential elections, in 2012, 63.6%. Dmitry Medvedev won in 2008 with the result of 70.28%. In 2004 and 2000, Putin was in the lead from 71.31% and 52.9%, respectively. In 1996 Boris Yeltsin won [rigged with help of US] the second round with the result of 53.82%.
I've heard many people say they'll vote Putin till he's gone and then vote KPRF. Rally around the flag effect seems huge at the moment. Still there was one good aspect that stood out to me:
Communists delivered 26 million copies of their program across the country (which the other candidates severely lacked), a win regardless of the electoral result.
https://kprf.ru/activity/elections/225109.html
Machine translation:
“Our program will make its way literally from tomorrow. In all regions, in all territories, it was received favorably, and people hope for its implementation. And we will implement it directly,” Kharitonov noted at a briefing on Sunday evening.
In his opinion, the current head of state, Vladimir Putin, has taken on enormous responsibility.
“If he wins, one can only wish for one thing: to justify the trust of his voters,” he emphasized, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports.
Let us remind you that Putin is in the lead with 87.26% in the presidential elections based on the results of processing 60% of the protocols. Second place goes to Kharitonov, who received 4.18% of the votes.
This makes a lot of sense to me and explains the temporary bleed off of support from KPRF to Putin especially for this presidential election. A lot of Russian communists are very patriotic and with a "rally aound the flag" effect i can imagine them deciding to support the president in wartime even if they would otherwise have voted KPRF instead.
We always have to remember that it is Putin who most Russians see as having led the country out of the horrific situation they were in at the end of the 1990s, massively restoring the economy, standard of living, and the strength and international standing of Russia. They view him as having given them back their dignity. This is limited to Putin himself though and does not translate to other politicians in his party, so once he has left the scene we will see great opportunities for big changes, for good or for bad.
That is also why the West is so desperate to get Putin out because they hope that in the struggle that will inevitably follow him leaving power the way will be opened for the kind of changes they want to see (either bring Russia back to its knees and re-colonize it as in the 90s or "finish the job" and completely dismantle it). Communists must be aware that this is being prepared and themselves prepare, build up their strength and be ready to seize that opportunity to steer Russia once that time comes in the opposite direction instead, the direction of socialism.
It's a disappointing result and the KPRF needs to do some serious thinking about how to stand out more as a real alternative to United Russia, because it is clear they have underperformed compared to previous elections. However i also think that this is an exceptional election what with the war situation and once things calm down a little and there is no longer a feeling of needing to unite against an external threat some of their voter base which temporarily went over to UR will come back. Still, they have a lot of work ahead of them if they are serious about building up a mass working class organization again.
The 3.8% is some irrelevant lib that hardly anyone had even heard of before this election and who will fade again into irrelevancy just as quickly. He was just a placeholder to aggregate all of the disaffected libs behind. At least Kharitonov and Slutsky are somewhat known names, even if the latter is a total shit bag.
KPRF needs younger leadership imo. Particularly younger people who weren't yet politically conscious in the 90s and who haven't been so traumatized by the political defeats suffered by communists during that time. I believe there is a kind of collective political PTSD among communists who were active in that difficult period that makes them very timid and prone to compromise and capitulation.
(Don't quote me on that though, it's just some armchair psychology on my part and may be total bullshit.)
I agree with your views, I had the same experiences with older communists. Also hoping that the younger gen can turn things around