West slams fraught Russian election as China's Xi congratulates Putin

Moscow [Russia], March 19: Western governments came out on Monday to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin's landslide win in a vote they say was neither free nor fair, while China, Moscow's main ally amid increased international isolation, sent congratulations.
With all of the ballots counted, the electoral commission awarded Putin a landslide win of 87.28 percent of votes on Monday afternoon, a record result that observers say was only possible through force, repression and fraud. Voter turnout was officially put at 77.44 percent. It is the best result for the Kremlin leader, who has been in power for almost 25 years, in the five times that he has run for office.
International observers did not monitor the election across the vast country which reaches across 11 time zones. The vote which ended on Sunday was accompanied by numerous protests by thousands of his opponents. The French government labelled the vote as yet another in the country held under fraught conditions. "The conditions for a free, pluralistic and democratic election have once again not been met," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
International standards regarding equal access to the press for all candidates were not met, according to the statement. The fact that candidates who clearly positioned themselves against Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine were not admitted significantly reduced the pluralistic character of the vote, the ministry said.
France also condemned the vote held in the Ukrainian territories illegally annexed by Russia. A government spokeswoman in Berlin also reiterated that the German government does not consider the vote to have been "neither free nor fair."
The EU also condemned Russia's holding of "so-called 'elections'" in occupied territories in Ukraine, referring to the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in violation of international law back in 2014, as well as the mainland regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson.
Western leaders did not congratulate Putin on his victory, unlike Chinese President Xi Jinping who swiftly held a phone call with the Kremlin leader on Monday. Xi congratulated Putin and told him that he trusts that Russia will be able to achieve even greater success in the development and construction of the country under Putin's leadership, according to state television.
Source: Qatar Tribune