Putin Aims for Record-High Vote Count in 2024 Presidential Election

Hope to achieve overall voter turnout over 70% and vote share over 75%
Putin able to hold long-term power until 2036 through legal amendments

Ahead of Russia's 2024 presidential election, it has been reported that President Vladimir Putin aims to achieve the highest number of votes in history. According to a report by the Russian daily Kommersant on the 2nd (local time), the Russian Presidential Administration has set this goal for the election to be held in March next year.

Earlier, at a domestic political seminar held near Moscow for deputy governors at the end of last month, participants were given hopeful target figures for next year's election turnout and the winning candidate's vote share. In this regard, a source revealed that the Presidential Administration has set the overall voter turnout target for next year's election at over 70%, and the vote share target for the "main candidate" at over 75%.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. Photo by Yonhap News

President Putin has not officially announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. However, this goal-setting by the Presidential Administration appears to be based on the assumption that Putin will run. Accordingly, the "main candidate" mentioned by the Presidential Administration is interpreted to mean President Putin.

In the previous election held in March 2018, the final voter turnout was recorded at 67.54%, and President Putin was elected with a vote share of 76.69%. At that time, the number of voters who supported President Putin exceeded 56.4 million, which is the highest figure in the history of Russian presidential elections.

The media predicted that if the voter turnout and vote share targets set by the Presidential Administration are achieved in next year's election, the number of voters choosing President Putin will surpass the figures from the 2018 election.

Also, it is known that the 2024 presidential election was included as an agenda item at a seminar held for Presidential Administration staff earlier last month. Attendees were reportedly informed that the next presidential election winner must achieve better results than in the 2018 election.

Konstantin Kostin, head of the Civil Society Development Foundation, forecasted that the Presidential Administration's goals are "highly likely to be achieved." He stated, "Campaign managers always strive to achieve the maximum results based on the current social and political situation and public sentiment," and evaluated that "key indicators related to President Putin, such as job performance evaluation and trust, are currently very high."

Meanwhile, in April 2021, President Putin signed amendments to election and referendum laws allowing him to serve two more six-year presidential terms until 2036.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.