How Long Will Putin Stay In Power? Misleading Voter Information May Mean 12 More Years For Russian President

Russians will vote for constitutional reforms on July 1, but the government has not emphasized the fact that citizens are given the choice to extend the term of Russian President Vladimir Putin by 12 more years. Putin’s current presidential term is set to expire in 2024.

Advertisements have focused on other proposals that will be offered to voters on July 1, but have often omitted the constitutional changes allowing for Putin to run for another term. “There are lots of changes and it’s hardly possible to single out one,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday about the constitutional reforms. “They are important when taken together.”

A website set up by the Russian government also omitted the impact of the vote on Putin’s power. “There are various technical filters. Maybe it just dropped off when the site was being populated,” Peskov said of the omission, claiming the information had now been included on the site.

Putin has served as Russia’s Prime Minister or President since 1999. The constitutional reform allowing Putin to serve two more six-year terms as President already passed in Russia’s lower legislative house, the State Duma, in May.

Russia is currently dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, with authorities registering 8,985 new infections on Monday, bringing the country's official case tally to 476,658. Russia has the third-highest number of cases in the world, behind the United States and Brazil.

Putin has called for a gradual reopening of Russia’s economy and has claimed the country has been able to slow down the virus. Kremlin critics have accused Putin of putting Russians in danger amid the pandemic by scheduling the constitutional reform vote for July 1.

"This is the basic law of our country, and they have arranged this circus," Lyubov Sobol, a Russian opposition leader said about the vote on Twitter. "Putin is ready to risk people's lives and health."

Putin has been frequently criticized for curtailing political freedoms in Russia. Russia has been deemed “not free” by the human rights watchdog Freedom House.