Moscow Times Poll: Glazyev beats Putin

[Kevinstat]

Where are the Liberal Democrats?  Just kidding

[Kevinstat]

C'mon, I don't even get a courtesy online laugh?  You guys are no fun.

Until a news segment this evening, I knew hardly anything about the election campaign other than that it was going on (I apparently even didn't look at the first post and thought that the poll really had Putin was really losing, and was surprised to learn that he was way, way ahead).  Much of what I learned in the news segment was largely could be inferred anyway from what I had previously learned, that some people thought Putin was becoming autocratic but that he was portraying himself as a man of the people in order to combat it.  That the strong social welfare system still in place in Russia is helping Putin is not much of a surprise either.

Do people on this forum believe that the longer Putin remains in power, the less free the elections will become?  I'm a little concerned about that, an based on some of the comments, like the one about the Russian people "throwing away their democratic rights", it seems like others her are concerned about that as well.

Sincerely,

Kevin Lamoreau