By Timothy Nsubuga

5^th March 2012:

Russia’s strongman Vladimir Putin, who has been serving as Prime Minister under President Dmitry Medvedev for the last four years, has declared victory in the country’s presidential elections.  According to the BBC’s report, exit polls and preliminary results gave Putin about 60% of the vote.

Mr Putin is reported to have told supporters at a rally in central Moscow they had won in an open and honest battle.  Opposition groups however accused Putin of masterminding widespread fraud – claiming that many people had voted more than once.  They have, as a result, called for mass protests in central Moscow today.

Television pictures from Russia showed tens of thousands of supporters of Mr Putin gathered with Russian flags and banners outside the Kremlin for a concert to celebrate his victory.  Putin made a brief appearance with current President Dmitry Medvedev and thanked his supporters from “every corner” of the country.

According to the BBC’s Bridget Kendall, the clear majority of around 60% of the vote for Vladimir Putin, being predicted by exit polls almost the moment polls closed, probably came as no surprise to many Russians.  Putin’s supporters, she said, would probably say that the victory “reinforced their view that his experience and strongman style always made him the most appropriate candidate”.

Those opposed to Putin on the other hand would say it confirmed their suspicion that this Russian presidential election, like the parliamentary elections in December, was once again not a fair reflection of the country’s preferences, but a precooked theatrical display, manipulated to produce the result the Kremlin always wanted.

In the meantime, a pro-Putin election rally in front of the Kremlin, has already sent out a message that the contest is over and the third age of ‘Putinism’, his return to the presidency for a third time, is now beyond dispute.  “…I promised you we would win, and we won,” Putin said, with tears in his eyes.

Former President Mikhail Gorbachev who presided over the break-up of the Soviet Union however dismissed Putin’s victory as fraudulent.  END.  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.