Yes for Putin

[Lambros]

President Vladimir Putin's party won a landslide victory in a parliamentary election, official results showed on Monday, giving him a mandate to shape Russia's political landscape after his second term ends next year.

[sunnysan]

Putin

Well I suppose the question to be asked is, is Putin this popular becuase he does not tolerate any opposition and controls the media or is he popular in spite of these things.

It appears he has imporved the lives of many Russians and I think the that "stability and prosperity before democracy" would be the realistic viewpoint most people would adopt.

Lets put is this way, I didnt see people running and shouting, "Yayyy Brownnnnn for England" when Gordo took over.

I think generally he has given Russians a reason to be proud of being Russian and a lot of the general populace seem to like that.

Then again, as my experiences in EE always show me, as someone with "Western" ideals, that I should never ever form an opinion about anything, because you have to be from Eastern Europe to understand the place.

Its funny, maybe I am giving in to all the rhetoric but I find it hard, even though the most complementary way to say it is that he has a heavy hand, not to respect him as a leader. Possibly its down to dissapointment and cynicism with our own lot

[tay]

Or did he rig the vote as is being widely reported by independent observers....

[TimberWolf]

AtW would know...