Kadyrov won with 99.85 percent, but he can't rest easy

Ramzan Kadyrov has once again won the Chechen leadership election: according to data from the Russian electoral commission, he received 99.85 percent of the vote. There were even rival candidates, believe it or not — two of them. Both received exactly 0.05 percent. One was put forward by one Russian parliamentary party, the other by a different Russian parliamentary party, just so the election would look like an actual election. According to a report by Interfax, the result is based on the complete processing of the ballots.

There are two things I'd like to know. The first is where they buried those who didn't vote for Kadyrov. This is, of course, a question — a kind of poetic flourish based on experience rather than an actual claim; in Chechnya, alongside the 99.85 percent, it's worth adding this even at the end of a joke.

The second is simple arithmetic: 99.85 + 0.05 + 0.05 = 99.95. Who does the missing 0.05 percent belong to? There could be invalid votes, a rounding discrepancy, or missing data from the results announcement. The published figures don't make it clear. In an election where two rival candidates receive exactly, down to the decimal, the same number of votes, this is the most exciting open question — and until it's resolved, not even Kadyrov can sleep soundly. So, get investigating, Chechen comrades — don't let that zero-point-zero-five percent organize underground!

Source: Interfax