Russia’s ruling United Russia party won an overwhelming victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections with over 54 percent of the vote, enabling a constitutional majority in the State Duma.
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Pro-Putin party United Russia (UR) won the elections to the parliament called State Douma, the candidates from UR got 343 seats in the 450-member parliament, said officials on Monday. Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), a nationalist outfit, has a very tight lead over the Communist Party for second place with 14.23 percent of the vote.
The party benefits from its association with 63-year-old Putin, who, after 17 years in power as either president or prime minister, consistently wins an approval rating of around 80% in opinion polls.
United Russia strengthened its grip on the Duma, the lower house of parliament, this weekend, taking three-quarters of its 450 seats – its largest ever majority.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the United Russia party’s campaign headquarters following a parliamentary election in Moscow, Russia, September 18, 2016.
Alfa Bank commented on September 19 that the relatively high number of votes for the LDPR has likely benefited from the increase of patriotic and nationalist sentiment in Russian Federation. United Russia is President Vladimir Putin’s party and with the supermajority, NPR reports that Putin can continue to rule Russia with a free hand, as he has done since 2000.
The outcome is not expected to bring much change, since Parliament already acquiesces to Putin’s every request.
The Central Election Commission said there were “no reports of gross violations” in the conduct of the election, although there were many claims of minor irregularities. Many countries, including the United States and those in the European Union, refuse to acknowledge Crimea as a part of Russian Federation.
According to election officials, two hours before polling stations closed on Sunday, turnout was at 39.4 percent, marking a huge drop from the 60 percent turnout seen at the last parliamentary election.
Videos posted on YouTube also seemed to show poll workers in some stations stuffing multiple ballots into a ballot box.
Reuters reporters at one polling station in the Mordovia region of central Russian Federation witnessed several people casting their ballot, then coming back later and voting again.
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Voters in Crimea also cast their ballot for the first time since Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014, sparking global condemnation.
