Putin: This is not free, fair election – British official criticises Russia poll

British Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron has condemned the election in Russia which saw President Vladimir Putin tighten his grip on power following the stifling of any real opposition.

Early results showed on Sunday that Putin won nearly 88% of the vote cast in the election.

The result so far announced by Russia’s Central Election Commission would be a record for Putin, extending his nearly quarter-of-a-century rule for another six-year term.

The president has only three candidates challenging him in the poll.

According to reports, the candidates were those who had not criticised his rule nor his invasion of Ukraine.

All serious challengers were reportedly taken out of the way before voting commenced.

Arch foe, Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison last month, while other critics of the president’s rule are either in jail or in exile.

Meanwhile, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited, with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, not invited to observe the three-day vote.

Reacting to the conduct of the election, Cameron in a tweet on his official page, said, “this is not what free and fair elections look like”.

He wrote, “The polls have closed in Russia, following the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE monitoring.

“This is not what free and fair elections look like.”