Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by The New York Times as saying “our presidential election is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy. Mr. Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90 percent of the vote.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by The New York Times as saying “our presidential election is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy. Mr. Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90 percent of the vote.”
Most authoritarian regimes have one or multiple accepted opposition parties that disagree on minor things, but will back off if the government wants it. So they can pretend that there is a democracy going on, and see who goes to these parties. Better to have an eye on people opposing than have them operate where you may not see them.