Russian referendum allows Putin to stay in power till 2036

Nearly 78% of Russian voters officially approved the amendments to the country’s constitution that will allow Vladimir Putin to remain in power until 2036.

The Russian Electoral Commission announced this Thursday after all the ballots were counted. According to the commission, there was no case of fraud reported. But the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, is having none of it.

“This vote is a forgery, but above all it is a public declaration of what is happening in the country: Vladimir Putin, together with a group of his corrupt friends and colleagues, has illegally taken power and wants to remain Russia’s leader for life,” Nalvany protested.

A “triumph”, according to the Kremlin, yet the European Union reports irregularities and calls on Moscow to investigate.

Chechnya has the highest approval rate for these new amendments. The only region that opposed them is the autonomous province of Nenetsie, in the far north-west of Russia.

The text of the new constitution was already available for a long time in all bookshops. It was to come into force at the same time as the official publication of the results of the vote.