Putin’s vote share nears outer limits but still the only way is up

Observers say Russian leader's election numbers approaching 90% mark final break with western conventions

Vladimir Putin is approaching the electoral outer limits. Claiming a record landslide on Sunday of 88.48% of the vote on a 77.44% turnout, Putin has launched himself into the stratosphere of post-Soviet election results.

It is a mathematical axiom for any president-for-life: support should never go down, only up; turnout should never go down, only up. And as Putin's one-man rule extends past a quarter of a century, Russian officials retain straight faces even as they post astronomical numbers that would make many convinced autocrats blush.