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The Guardian view on Russia’s election: in Stalin’s footsteps | Editorial

Vladimir Putin’s landslide victory in a fake contest marks the latest phase in a transition from authoritarianism to outright autocracy

One of the curiosities of the Soviet Union was the serious weight its leaders attached to holding elections. In a dictatorship, why bother? Academic studies concluded that ensuring a 99% vote share for the only candidate on the ballot was a useful tool for civic mobilisation, and a way of isolating and intimidating anyone who aspired to a real democratic choice.

Under the repressive, paranoid leadership of Vladimir Putin, Russians are going back to the future. Mr Putin’s 87% landslide in Russia’s presidential election – the highest percentage in any post-Soviet poll – confirms that, almost a quarter of a century after he first entered the Kremlin, the resumption of a form of totalitarian control is all but complete. Having changed the constitution to ensure he can continue to rule, a further victory in 2030 would see him surpass Stalin’s 31 years of dictatorial power.

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