In contrast to the two previous elections, only half the seats in this election were chosen by national party list; the others were contested by single-seat districts.
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Russian people support political stability, Vladimir Putin said as he visited the United Russia campaign office.
It was followed by the Communists and the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, on 13.5 percent and 13.2 percent respectively, and A Just Russia, which received 6.2 percent, results published by the central election commission showed.
Russia’s Central Election Commission says the very first results show the ruling United Russia party winning in the parliamentary election.
United Russia party of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has gained a stable majority in Parliament’s lower house after the general election held on Sunday, official results indicate.
The popularity ratings of United Russia are far lower than those that Putin enjoys.
“Things are tough but people still voted for United Russia”, he said.
Turnout for the State Duma vote was 47%, according to Tass – well down on the 60% five years ago.
Anger over widespread fraud in the 2011 election sparked large protests that unsettled authorities by their size and persistence.
The turnout by 6 p.m. (1500 GMT; 11 a.m. EDT) was at a record low of 29 percent in Moscow, compared to over 50 percent five years earlier, and under 20 percent in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city.
One worldwide observer at the Russian State Duma elections, Javier Hurtado Mira, the president of centre-right political organization, the Democrat Youth Community of Europe, told RT Spanish that the atmosphere at his polling station was “calm”.
Previous elections have shown that the regions with the highest turnout were where voters, mostly state employees, were pressured to cast ballots.
The results from several ballot stations may be thrown out, CEC leader Ella Pamfilova said Monday, after surveillance video showed voting irregularities – including at least one case in which an election worker is seen taking a small stack of ballots and jamming them into the box.
Pamfilova said other violations reports would be looked into and that results from three precincts could be annulled. This includes liberal Yabloko party, whose support had been projected at more than 3% by exit polls.
Despite the authorities pledging to crack down on vote-rigging, observers around the country made claims of violations including “cruise-voting” – where people are bussed to vote at multiple polling stations – and ballot stuffing. Independent candidates were also allowed, although only 23 met the requirements to get on the ballot, according to the elections-monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
“They’re just as bad as everyone, but I stand for diversity”, he said.
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In the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, dozens of right-wing protesters gathered around the Russian Embassy, where a voting station was set up. Another demonstration took place outside the Russian consulate in Odessa, where four protesters were arrested.
