6 years ago
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The Kremlin is laying on entertainment at polling stations to spare Putin's embarrassment at low election turnout
Opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged that voters in Sunday’s presidential election were being compelled to show up at polling stations in a Kremlin drive to ensure Putin’s all but inevitable win is not tarnished by a low turnout. And on social media, pictures show feasts and novelty entertainment laid on at election stations, to lure jaded voters convinced Putin's victory is a foregone conclusion.
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They did this in Venezuela too, and I’m sure they do it in other autocratic countries.
This is kind of paradoxical, but when there’s not a real choice, it’s a bit demoralizing to win. The only way to keep your ego intact (and given that autocrats are usually narcissists, ego is the most important thing) in such a situation is to convince yourself that you would win even if the game was not rigged. And the easy way to achieve that is to get lots of people to vote for you, even though they didn’t have a choice.
If this doesn’t make sense to you, you’re right, but humans in general are not rational beings.