I mean, we are already aware that elections in Russia are essentially there to humiliate the common people and to remind them they have no real voice.
But having someone directly control what you vote or write on your ballot, how does that even work? Why do people even go to vote at that point?
It’s propaganda, basically. A display of loyalty to the leader and the government. And it lets propagandists pretend the leader is overwhelmingly popular with his people, because look at these voting statistics!
You may laugh, but there are socialists in the US who insist election results in North Korea and Cuba and so on represent genuine support for their leaders, and contrast it unfavourably with the divided US electorate.
It is sad to see those people arrested and put away for acts of public defiance. They could have burnt down something and fought another day. :(
Some day, at some point, some act of defiance will trigger a revolt - maybe a revolution - but that time doesn’t seem near. Covert attrition seems many times more effective currently.
