If no candidate wins more than 50 in the first round. But with many of mr putins opponents unable to run, it seems inevitable that Vladimir Putin will be re elected without the need for that second ballot. Our russia editor, steve rosenberg, is following developments in moscow. Vladimir putin has been in power a long time, right, 25 years almost as president or Prime Minister. And hes expected to win a fifth president ial term. Now, this whole event, this three day event, which starts today, is being presented by the russian authorities almost as a celebration of democracy. The kremlin just a few days ago described russian democracy as the best democracy in the world. Critics of the kremlin would disagree and would say that this poll is neither free nor fair nor transparent. Vladimir putin does not face a major challenge. There are three other candidates on the ballot paper, but his most vocal critics, his fiercest opponents, are either in exile or in prison, which kind of helps you to
as a country, we want to come together. as a country, we want to come together- as a country, we want to come touether. ~ ., ., ., ., together. we will hear from one of the families together. we will hear from one of the families of together. we will hear from one of the families of one together. we will hear from one of the families of one of together. we will hear from one of the families of one of the - together. we will hear from one of| the families of one of the hostages still being held by hamas, that is in the next few minutes. now we have the business news. we start here in the uk with the post office scandal. as you ve been hearing, members of parliament have been questioning the european boss of fujitsu, the japanese company which developed the software which contributed to more than 900 post office managers being wrongly convicted of fraud. bugs in the horizon platform, which was introduced in the 1990s, made it look as though money had gone missing from
about their experience of what it was like to be investigated by them. for example, we have heard from a woman who has talked about threatening calls from him and who has in fact been at the inquiry today listening to the man who interrogated her. she was not one of the people to be convicted, but she was accused of. forced to pay back a shortfall of thousands of pounds. that had a devastating effect on her life. it s not just been it s notjust been about the horizon it system, it s also been about his behaviour, his behaviour in the investigating team. behaviour, his behaviour in the investigating team. among the sub- postmaster investigating team. among the sub- postmaster is investigating team. among the sub-postmaster is wrongly - investigating team. among the - sub-postmaster is wrongly prosecuted sub postmaster is wrongly prosecuted is hasmur shingadia, his post office was used by the princess of wales when she was growing up nearby and even got an invite to her we