Putin had to contrive a ‘landslide’ – because he knows cracks are showing in Russian society

‘The rift is there – and Vladimir Putin’s need for absolute victory shows that he is aware of it.’ Putin at his Moscow campaign headquarters, 18 March 2024. Photograph: Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images

Although Vladimir Putin’s landslide victory with 87% of the vote in the Russian election was no surprise, these elections were important both for the Kremlin and for those in opposition to Putin.

With voter turnout at 74% – the highest in history – anything less than a landslide victory would have suggested that those who did not vote for Putin represented a significant force in Russian politics. This would have been particularly awkward in the case of young upstart Vladislav Davankov, who, with 3.79% of the vote, came a close third place. Davankov has been mistakenly described as an anti-war candidate – he supports peace and negotiations, “but on Russia’s conditions and without one step backwards” – but his platform also called for “freedom of speech and opinion, instead of intolerance and denunciations”, and “openness and pragmatism instead of searching for new enemies”.