| When I think about the Russian elections, particularly the presidential one taking place this weekend, I cannot help but remember the totalitarian voting in which I participated as a youngster. We have already argued that Vladimir Putin’s regime should no longer be described as authoritarian: After the brutal aggression against Ukraine, it has degenerated into totalitarianism akin to the Soviet Union, or worse. I lived what should have been the best years of my life, my youth, under the totalitarian regimes of Bulgaria and Romania (I was a student in Bucharest), and I voted in successive elections in Bulgaria in the 1970s and 1980s. Of course, these were not real elections. We knew the result in advance, just like now in Russia. The only unknown about these elections is whether Putin will receive 80% or more. Yet, for some reason, totalitarian regimes mimic democracy by holding elections which mean nothing. In the case of Russia, it’s Putin who will decide the result. In communist Bulgaria (The People’s Republic of Bulgaria), the leadership of the ruling Communist Party decided what the election result should be – always above 90%. | 