Vladimir Putin declares victory as observers criticize Russian vote

As Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won his seat back on Sunday, after it was taken away by term limits of four years, European monitors expressed their disappointment and frustration with the way Putin won. The observers reported they saw ballot stuffing and other irregularities in about a third of the polling stations they monitored, and an uneven playing field in the race to the election. On Monday, observers commented on the presidential election saying, “The point of an election is that the outcome should be uncertain. This was not the case in Russia.”

Putin said, “We have won an open and honest fight. We are appealing to all people to unite for our people, for our motherland, and we will win. We’ve had a victory! Glory to Russia,” on Sunday night as he appeared headed for a third term as the Russian president. Putin led his closet rival, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, by almost a 4-to-1 ratio, well above the needed 50 percent to avoid a runoff. Putin, 59, is a former KGB (State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus) officer who served two terms in Kremlin before term limits required him to step down in 2008. He continued to dominate Russian politics after he served as Prime Minister under his successor, Dmitry Medvedev.