intriguing idea isn't it one of russians had been able to make that choice between vladimir putin and alexina valmy well polling over the last year suggests to me a period in is consistently on seventy percent whereas now valmy is in single digits the implication of that is clear but it's telling all of the kremlin's approach to things that they weren't prepared to even take that chance. so in the valleys plan b. is to deal it just bloody mere putin's expected reelection his tactics are polling station monitoring and calling for an election boycott he's sure of the result but he needs people to come to the polling stations otherwise his spectacle the actors the lighting man and the cloakroom attendant are all in place but the theater is empty the audience didn't turn up and that's what scares him for many of the valley supporters this is a generation. no struggle but a better deal better as when i went to my first rally a year ago my granny called me and said you study in a state funded university and the state pays for your education why are you going to rally you're being so bad but young threw i

and the man who will not be president he's banned from standing in russia's election but alexina valmy is not sitting it out. how low will tropical cyclone marcus continue to bring some very heavy rain damaging winds across the far north of australia can see the circulation there much emplace here but that weather coming into darwin then further south it is lossy draw i pretty strong winds into the southeastern corner leadings is rather high temperatures thirty three celsius there for adelaide for melbourne thirty one in sydney we have pushed our warnings in force for victoria's we go on through saturday sunday will be a little luck so it's a chance of some rain coming through well combine football notice that he still very much in place there for sydney thirty eight degrees celsius a sweltering one by the end of the weekend wet weather there very close to darwin more heavy downpours more damaging winds dry in five for perth with a good deal of sunshine for the next couple of days a fair amount of sunshine too with two new zealand bits and pieces of cloud drifting across the islands he

six years ago that amid putin is seeking a fourth term opposition leader alexina valmy who was barred from running says there are dozens of violations in polling stations across the country as a whole reports from moscow the kremlin is hoping for a high turnout to boost the legitimacy of president putin's expected victory. you know there's a presidential election going on because of the banners in the street that say presidential election and schools are full of adults on a sunday voters are presented with a seemingly vibrant to rove choices eight candidates of veteran politicians is a communist an ultra nationalist and a former reality t.v. star who some fancy is a future leader but not this time. this time the result is not in doubt. this man says he's voting for the father of the nation. i trust and i like the way he treats. the array of choices not all it seems a series of televised election debates over the past fortnight featuring seven of the eight candidates minus putin of course quickly descended into a circus like fast in fact circus is a word the kremlin has used to describ

conspicuously absent from the ballot is this man alexina valmy and to corruption lawyer turned opposition figure who's led enormous street protests in the past he's putin's most outspoken critic barred from taking part after a conviction for embezzlement a charge he says was politically motivated novelli has called on his supporters to boycott the election as the voting day wore on though turnout what the kremlin really cares about seem to be high so to the number of alleged voter violations reported on social media big numbers will add legitimacy to the putin victory and it does appear that big numbers have turned out to vote join a whole al-jazeera moscow. so let's take a closer look at those seven rivals two percent one high profile name is thirty six year old czech a former reality t.v. star whose father had close ties with president pro tem that is the communist party's candidate strawberry tycoon pawel girl and then those being critical of the government but not person himself that the mayor is an ultra nationalist he's consistently supported putin the united russia party this will

turnout with all their administrative resources if that's true just to get a man driving all this is alexina valmy russia's most high profile opposition politician in december he was barred from the elections for an embezzlement conviction that he's always said was politically motivated. choosing the president's choosing the future says the sign and it's an intriguing idea isn't it one of russians had been able to make that choice between vladimir putin and alexina valmy well polling over the last year suggests to me a period scene is consistently on seventy percent whereas now valley is in single digits the implication of that is clear but it's telling all of the kremlin's approach to things that they weren't prepared to even take that chance in the single bullet so no valleys plan b. is to deal it just bloody may appear it is expected reelection his tactics i. our polling station monitoring calling for an election boycott he's sure of the result but he needs people to come to the polling stations otherwise his spectacle the actors the lighting man and the cloakroom attendant are all in place but

russia's most high profile opposition figure alexina valmy is not standing in sunday's election after he was banned by the electoral commission in december but that doesn't mean he's completely says he's out of on these funding gets corruption group is challenging the nitrous mysie of latina pearson and they say they've got fifteen thousand people ready to help out or a challenge has been to meet some of them. these muscovites are learning how to be disruptors they volunteered to monitor voting in russia's presidential election and meetings like this from happening all over the country. they're showing videos of what to look out for this one is from parliamentary elections two years ago and shows what looks like ballot stuffing russia they want to minimize such fraud being repeated which they hope will keep sunday's election turnout from being artificially inflated simply much taking in what it. needs never will understand that this is not an election and there's no point in voting that's why our only game is the turnout because that's the kremlin's main focus in this election and the

conspicuously absent from the ballot is this man alexina valmy and to corruption lawyer turned opposition figure who's led enormous street protests in the past he's putin's most outspoken critic barred from taking part after a conviction for embezzlement a charge he says was politically motivated novelli has called on his supporters to boycott the election. that may impact on the one thing the kremlin seems to care about most a high turnout to boost the legitimacy of this vote and it may also be that many russians matter who they support simply see little reason to get out and vote. but i think we're looking now at live pictures of a press conference going on being given by alexina valmy who i was just talking about there the anti corruption lawyer turned off position leader barred from taking part in this election because of what he says are politically motivated charges against him when he put out tens of thousands of activists across the country to monitor this vote to look for irregularities as well as of course calling on his supporters to boycott the vote and he's reporting back now

voting twice or stuffing reams of papers into books is not enough to alter the outcome but for alexina valmy banned from standing in the election evidence of a corrupt vote. thousands of people went to vote and out of curiosity i went on twitter to check on the candidates to see if they are writing about violations they are behaving as if nothing is happening people who are observing these elections keep writing about other violations and they are complaining about it and the people who are remaining silent don't care about this they are candidates it's just that kind of election i guess. in delhi even took part in the campaign and was entirely absent from the t.v. debates but during the election videos surfaced on the internet like this one which gave a glimpse of how the kremlin wants people to think. the film depicts a man who tells his wife he can't be bothered to vote something which putin himself had warned against the man then has a nightmare in which black africans suddenly appear in the armed forces to his horror the homosexual in the kitchen the message is clear is day this is what

putin got seventy six percent of the vote despite calls for a boycott by the opposition leader alexina valmy lawrence lee has our report from moscow. by suma they called his election such as the status of blood in their putin in russia as he was in reality little more than a coronation the first the secret you could be used with. it's very important to maintain this unity to attract those who could have voted for overcome today's we have to stand together shoulder to shoulder we have to think about unity not about differences we should think about the future of our people about the future of our country we are destined for success. it was never a contest to single out the overwhelming percentage of votes cast and more than six out of ten russians voted for the kremlin it went more or less to plan of course russians knew perfectly well that when the television told them that they had to go out to vote because it was a civic duty what they really meant was you have to go and vote because we have to get putin back in the kremlin that meant this wasn't rated election about who was going to win b

intriguing idea isn't it one of russians had been able to make that choice between vladimir putin and alexina valmy well polling over the last year suggests to me a period in is consistently on seventy percent whereas now valmy is in single digits the implication of that is clear but it's telling all of the kremlin's approach to things that they weren't prepared to even take that chance. so in the valleys plan b. is to deal of the mayor putin's expected reelection his tactics are polling station monitoring and calling for an election boycott he's sure of the result but he needs people to come to the polling stations otherwise his spectacle the actors the lighting man and the cloakroom attendant are all in place but the theater is empty the audience didn't turn up and that's what scares him for many of the valley supporters this is a generation. struggle but that's a deal better as when i went to my first rally a year ago my granny called me and said you study in a state funded university and the state pays for your education why are you going to rally you're being so bad but young threes in the uni

turnout with all their administrative resources if that's true just to get a man driving all this is alexina valmy russia's most high profile opposition politician in december he was barred from the elections for an embezzlement conviction that he's always said was politically motivated. choosing the president's choosing the future says the sign and it's an intriguing idea isn't it one of russians had been able to make that choice between vladimir putin and alexina valmy well polling over the last year suggests to me a person is consistently on seventy percent whereas no valley is in single digits the implication of that is clear but it's telling all of the kremlin's approach to things that they weren't prepared so even take that chance. so in the valleys plan b. is to deal of. spectators reelection his tactics are polling station monitoring and calling for an election boycott he sure of the result but he needs people to come to the polling stations otherwise his spectacle the actors the lighting man and the cloakroom attendant are all in place but the theater is empty the audience didn't turn up

all but they are all part of the same machine that had to get putin back into power certainly alexina valmy who was the only person who could eventually provide any credible threats of putin was who's been barred from standing in those videos that you saw that were posted on places like twitter of things like ballot box stuffing work were done by his supporters there are some suggestions of the might be protests in the coming days but i don't think it's getting anywhere in all all honesty you know there's nothing that would have actually made a difference to the overall result it's if putin is russia's choice and that's just the end of it all at once thank you very much for that for now that is lawrence lay joining us live from moscow thank you. well victory for president means who will serve as president until two thousand and twenty four the end of the current two term limit making him the longest serving russian leader since joseph stalin and he shrugged off questions on whether he'll try to serve another term his career started with the soviet security agency the k.g.b. he rose to becom

voting twice while stuffing reams of paper since a box is not enough to alter the outcome but for alexina valmy banned from standing in the election evidence of a corrupt vote so thousands of people went to vote and out of curiosity i went on twitter to check on the candidates to see if they are writing about violations they are behaving as if nothing is happening people who are observing these elections keep writing about the things and other violations and they're complaining about it and the people who are remaining silent don't care about this they are candidates it's just that kind of election i guess. barely even took part in the campaign and was entirely absent from the t.v. debates but during the election videos surfaced on the internet like this one which gave a glimpse of how the kremlin wants people to think the film depicts a man who tells his wife he can't be bothered to vote something which putin himself had warned against the man that has a nightmare in which black africans suddenly appear in the armed forces to his horror the homosexual in the kitchen the message is clear is day

mingling with showbiz celebs she's attending rallies alongside prominent opposition figures like alexina valmy. like getting at what you have asked of like it like nothing to live your life one man band yeah that was the emergence of the protest movement drew is another opposition figure back into politics for gori yavlinsky he returns to the helm of his party and joins the ranks of the protesters who now form a motley crew of liberals communists nationalists and war they are all united in wanting to change the system if not in how linsky presents his vision for me yeah like that other you know you pal you sat at a student some. are studying yet earlier last year old gent out of the last year that a measure not skip the firebrand populist leader of the l.d.p. is also out rallying in his own inimitable style an anti government will keep i sit in two thousand and twelve he gives that i screams to the crowd and they've got to ask me to do it for the dog if i get it in march two thousand and twelve landed me a putin wins russia's presidential election with a reduced share of the vote what will be

conspicuously absent from the ballot is this man alexina valmy and to corruption lawyer turned opposition figure who's led enormous street protests in the past he's putin's most outspoken critic barred from taking part after a conviction for embezzlement a charge he says was politically motivated novelli has called on his supporters to boycott the election as the voting day wore on low turnout what the kremlin really cares about seem to be high so to the number of alleged voter violations reported on social media big numbers will add legitimacy to the putin victory and it does appear that big numbers have turned out to vote. for inside story in moscow people of crimea of voting for the first time since russia annexed the region in two thousand and fourteen. reports from. ok so i'm going to show you something now which i think is going to put the importance of crimea in this election in a bit of context this is a little metal that all the voters who are turning up here at this voting station in sevastopol are being given at the top it says sevastopol the name of the city and underneath it

thing that may stand in their way is the absence on the ballot of a key opposition figure called alexina valmy and and to corruption lawyer who commands or a lot of support he's been barred from running he's asked his supporters to boycott this election that may impact on turnout on the seventy percent turnout that the kremlin has said that it hopes to achieve another thing that may impact turnout of course is simply the fact that an awful lot of russians even if they do support the emir putin may simply not see very much reason in the field that's been. posted on the ballot here to come out and voted talk a look or see election has an underlying theme as well in the fact that there is an international spats between russia and the u.k. at the moment how much does international politics play a role in the way the election campaign has been run leading up to even this issue which could perhaps also be a factor in the way people vote. well international politics has certainly been a big punchy theme of the me of putin's campaign such as it is it hasn't been a very energized campaign he's made ver

conspicuously absent from the ballot is this man alexina valmy and to corruption lawyer turned opposition figure who's led enormous street protests in the past he's putin's most outspoken critic barred from taking part after a conviction for embezzlement a charge he says was politically motivated and of only has called on his supporters to boycott the election as the voting day wore on low turnout what the kremlin really cares about seem to be high so to the number of alleged voter violations reported on social media big numbers will add legitimacy to the putin victory and it does appear that big numbers have turned out to vote jonah al-jazeera moscow southeast asian nations gathered at the summit in sydney say north korea's nuclear and missile development is a threat to the region the statement the group called on pyongyang to comply with its international obligations australia is hosting the two day summit for the first time this right not being part of the ten nation block. we love joint commitment to respond strongly and resolutely in the face of the grave concerns we share about nort

conspicuously absent from the ballot is this man alexina valmy and to corruption lawyer turned opposition figure who's led enormous street protests in the past he's putin's most outspoken critic barred from taking part after a conviction for embezzlement a charge he says was politically motivated novelli has called on his supporters to boycott the election as the voting day wore on low turnout what the kremlin really cares about seem to be high so to the number of alleged voter violations reported on social media big numbers will add legitimacy to the putin victory and it does appear that big numbers have turned out to vote. from the russian capital of course what the authorities would like to see is a very large turnout which you've mentioned in your report because that's going to legitimize the vote not just for the domestic audience but certainly want to you might say beat the international community over the head with us while. well it's not just about britain winning is it because that's pretty much guaranteed what they want is to be other show a resoundingly national mandate behind

television over the last two weeks there's one notable exception of course and that is a man named alexina valmy he's possibly the real opposition leader out there and to corruption lawyer who has managed in the past to bring hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets in protest he's been banned from standing and he has called on his supporters to boycott this election john i wonder how is the diplomatic fallout over the poisoning of the former russian spy in the u.k. and the allegations of russian interference in twenty sixteen u.s. election how is that all playing into this today. well we don't know definitively of course whether that is going to make an impact but it has been playing at the top of every news bulletin on every channel for just about every day this week and for the last ten days and of course the message that is put out in all of those bulletins is that this is nothing to do with russia russia completely innocent of all charges that this is the yet another instance of a country be sieved under assault under attack by its western enemies and of course by issuing countermea

conspicuously absent from the ballot is this man alexina valmy and to corruption lawyer turned opposition figure who's led enormous street protests in the past he's putin's most outspoken critic barred from taking part after a conviction for embezzlement a charge he says was politically motivated novelli has called on his supporters to boycott the election as the voting day wore on low turnout what the kremlin really cares about seem to be high so to the number of alleged vote violations reported on social media big numbers will add legitimacy to the putin victory and it does appear that big numbers have turned out to vote. now the turnout figures coming out of the central election commission so far do point to a pretty healthy turnout at this point but there are multiple reports coming out as there have been all day on social media about irregularities at polling stations across the country lots of videos of course we can't verify them and certainly look at them showing pretty blatant attempts to rig the ballot stuffing ballot boxes multiple votes and all that sort of thing not necessari

difference to the results and the answer that of course would be no but i dare say that even if alexina valmy the main opposition candidates who was barred had been allowed to stand it probably wouldn't made any significant difference either what it would have done would have made putin's margin of victory probably a bit less but really in terms of russia's choice it was always going to overwhelmingly be p.-p. putin and there is there must be leaders all over the world wondering what putin is going to do with these next ten hasn't given any indication of what its priorities are going to be. well i think certainly he would like to get on better with other countries and analysts here always say for all the bluster and the rhetoric he does want to try to normalize relations with the west in particular but the trouble is it's very difficult because if you take the crimea for example that is now a permanent block to his relation with the european union as is the continued bombing of syria and all that kind of thing notable by the way that a part of the white house tonight telephoned or got in conc