Russian voters will get a chance to win apartments and holidays in a nationwide raffle to coincide with President Putin’s campaign for re-election.
Participants in the “It’s a family affair” lottery can enter the competition if they persuade at least four family members from three generations to take part in patriotic challenges.
Although not publicly linked to the election on March 17, the initiative is intended to create a festive backdrop to politics plagued by rising prices caused by western sanctions and the rising death toll of Russian solders in Ukraine, sources close to the Kremlin told Medusa, an independent Russian media outlet.
Should Putin win and see out his next term, he will have been in power for 30 years, drawing level with Stalin. The constitution was amended to reset limits on his term in 2020, allowing him to hold on to power until 2036, which would put him at the helm of Russia longer even than Catherine the Great.
Organisers of the lottery claim that 400,000 people have already signed up to take part in the activities, which were approved by Putin. Families will be given tasks such as cooking a meal to the instructions of Sergey Zhukov, a pop star who was sanctioned for his role in a concert celebrating the war in Ukraine, or performing a traditional song or act that will benefit others.
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Virtual leagues held at the start of the campaign in November will progress to in-person semi-finals, and then final events in regional capitals in March.
“These tasks unite the families of our country with common, interesting and useful deeds, and we have only one requirement: to perform competitive tasks together with the whole family,” said Alexey Komissarov, the general director of Russia — Country of Opportunities, the Kremlin-backed organiser of the competition.
Although the results of elections in Russia are largely predetermined, the Kremlin fears that a low turnout could undermine Putin’s power. Since 2018 local authorities have been experimenting with rewarding voters with prize draw entries, but this is Russia’s first nationwide prize initiative aimed at influencing elections.
Putin’s veneer of invincibility has been rattled by the Wagner Group rebellion in June, and the administration has also been grappling with persistent rumours that he is in poor health. On Tuesday the Kremlin was forced to deny that the president had suffered a heart attack after a Telegram channel claimed he had collapsed. “Everything is fine with him, this is absolutely another fake,” a Kremlin spokesman said.
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Asked if Putin used body doubles to cover for him while sick, the spokesman added: “This belongs to the category of absurd information hoaxes that a series of media discuss with enviable tenacity.”
