Sunday is the last day of voting for the three days of presidential elections in Russia. Polling began on Friday (March 15) in a tightly controlled environment. With this election, the current President Vladimir Putin is expected to come back to power for another six years.

Putin is expected to win again and secure a fifth term, Reuters reports. With no strong opponent, the result is expected to go in Putin’s favor.

Meanwhile, on the final day of voting, Putin opponents called for large protests at polling stations. The protest has been named ‘Noon Against Putin’ or ‘Noon Against Putin’.

Alexei Navalny, the country’s opposition leader who died in a Russian prison last month, had planned to protest against Putin in this way. Later, Navalny’s wife, Yulia, called on her husband’s supporters and anti-Putin to show their presence and strength by lining up at polling stations across the country at the same time on Sunday afternoon, the final day of voting.

International relations experts say that everyone knows that the current president, Vladimir Putin, will win, so why is the Kremlin organizing the presidential election? And from this election can get an idea of the true popularity of President Putin?

Vladimir Putin has been in power in Russia since 2000. First succeeded as acting president by his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, and won his first election in March 2000.

From 2008 to 2012, he changed his role during which time he held the Prime Minister’s chair but kept all power to himself. At that time, according to the Russian constitution, a president could serve two consecutive terms. That is why he changed his role and once again started his journey to the election as the president.

In 2020, there is a change in that rule of the constitution. It is now widely believed that President Putin will remain in power until 2036.

And until then, he will be Russia’s longest-serving ruler. He will surpass communist leader Joseph Stalin and 18th-century empress Catherine the Great, who both held power for more than 30 years. If he wins this election, Putin will be the longest-serving president in Russia’s 200-year history.

Russian leader Nikolai Kharitonov is representing the Communist Party in the election. The party has maintained its status as Russia’s second most popular party for more than 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The other two candidates running are Leonid Slutsky of the nationalist LDPR and Vladislav Davankov of the New People.