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.