Russia's Kadyrov re-elected leader of Chechnya with almost 100% of the vote

Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian ​President Vladimir Putin, has ​been re-elected to a fifth term ‌as ​leader of his southern, mainly Muslim region of Chechnya with almost 100% of the vote, Russia's ‌electoral commission said on Monday. Russia concluded elections on Sunday to its national parliament, as well as for regional legislatures and governors, a test of the country's tightly controlled ‌political system after 4-1/2 years of war in Ukraine. Kremlin-backed parties and candidates ‌swept the board after most anti-war candidates were barred from running, results showed.

Kadyrov enjoys wide leeway from Putin to run Chechnya as his personal fiefdom in return for ensuring ⁠the ​stability of the region, ⁠where an Islamist, anti-Russian insurgency raged during the 1990s. Russia's Central Electoral Commission said Kadyrov took 99.85% ⁠of the vote in Chechnya, slightly up from 99.73% in 2021. International observers have ​in the past sharply criticised the conduct of elections in the small ⁠mountainous region.

Kadyrov, who rejects such criticism as Western-backed attempts to undermine his rule, regularly stresses ⁠his ​personal loyalty to Putin and has championed a hard line on Ukraine, where he says his Chechen forces have been fighting since 2022. His rise ⁠to power came after his own father, Akhmat, was killed in a 2004 ⁠bombing by ⁠insurgents who saw him as a turncoat.

Human rights organisations have long accused Kadyrov's government of widespread rights violations, including against journalists ‌and homosexuals, ‌something he denies.