JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Theatrical Method in Putin’s Vote Madness” – New York Times/ Andrew Higgins

Kremlin and River

“The outcome in Russia’s constitutional ‘referendum’ is preordained, but an elaborate spectacle of public affirmation is vital to the leader’s legitimacy.’

“Russia’s seven-day national plebiscite … to keep … Putin in power until at least 2036, delivered the expected verdict …. Less clear … was why … Putin even needed voters to approve … constitutional amendments that, already ratified by the national parliament … and regional legislatures … entered into law months ago. … Voters, in theory, could have rejected the amendments …. [T]he chances of that happening always seemed minuscule …. Golos, an independent election monitoring organization, described … an electoral process rigged from the start. … unfairly skewed by a noisy one-sided propaganda campaign by state-controlled media and blatant pressure from a sprawling galaxy of state-funded companies and organizations ….”

Click here for: “The Theatrical Method in Putin’s Vote Madness; The outcome in Russia’s constitutional “referendum” is preordained, but an elaborate spectacle of public affirmation is vital to the leader’s legitimacy” – New York Times/ Andrew Higgins

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