By John Q. Hosedrinker Russia finds ‘errors’ in paperwork of candidate hoping to stand against Putin
As I read about Russia finding ‘errors’ in the paperwork of a candidate hoping to stand against Vladimir Putin, I can’t help but roll my eyes in disbelief. It’s so transparently absurd, it’s almost comical. The error they found? The date of death field was left blank. How convenient. Who could have possibly foreseen such a complication?
But really, what did we expect? Putin is a coward who will do anything to maintain his grip on power. I’m not at all surprised to find out that there are improper paperwork submissions in his establishment. It’s just another tactic to disqualify any potential competition.
So let’s examine the claim they are making. They allege that some of the 100,000 signatures the candidate acquired to be allowed to run were from deceased individuals. They say “dozens and dozens.” Now, I couldn’t find specific dates on when signature collection is allowed to start, but let’s assume it could have started on December 1st. Over a two-month period, approximately 215 people are expected to have died out of the 100,000 who provided signatures. So their claim of dead people among the signatures could be valid.
However, they must know that people do die, and statistically speaking, a significant number of deaths are expected among a sample size of 100,000. But that won’t stop them from using this as a technicality to disqualify the candidate. Not only that, they will label him and his poll workers as dishonest, setting the stage for potential prison sentences and a ban from running again next year. It’s a predictable pattern that we’ve seen before.
And to top it all off, Putin has the audacity to allege that the other candidate is corrupt. That’s rich coming from him. It’s clear that this is all just a show of insecurity from the Kremlin. They let him go this far to prove that Russia is still a democracy, but now it’s time to set him aside and move forward with their own agenda.
I can’t help but feel for the millions of Russians who want to see Putin gone. They are the brave ones, facing a police state, frostbite, and the FSB just to raise their voices against Putin’s regime. They deserve respect for their courage. It’s easy for me to criticize from the outside when I don’t have to worry about being thrown in jail for my opinions.
But let’s not forget the bigger picture here. This is Russia we’re talking about. It’s not exactly known for its democratic practices. The whole process is just a facade, a pageantry of fake democracy. They aren’t even trying to hide their lack of legitimacy anymore.
Putin knows that the population is open to replacing him, even after a quarter of a century in power. So he resorts to these tactics, disqualifying candidates on technicalities, to maintain his control. It’s clear that Russia is far from being a democracy.
In the end, it’s not surprising that Russia found ‘errors’ in the paperwork of a candidate hoping to stand against Putin. It’s just another way for him to tighten his grip on power. And unfortunately, until that grip is broken, we won’t see any real change in Russia’s political landscape.