“They are just fraudsters”, said one man. Moscow and St. Petersburg were among the Russian regions with the lowest turnout, which amounted to nearly 20 percent in the Russian capital and 16.12 percent in St. Petersburg. The turnout was less than 48% for the whole country and numerous violations were reported during the vote.
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Results indicated that liberal opposition groups would not make it into parliament, with neither the Yabloko party, nor the Parnas party of former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov and assassinated Putin critic Boris Nemtsov, having secured enough votes to win a seat.
Alluding to the spluttering economy, which is forecast to shrink this year by at least 0.3 per cent, Mr Putin said: “We know that life is hard for people. Nevertheless, we have this result”.
With 93 percent of the votes counted, the party was set to take 343 of the 450 seats in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, according to the Central Elections Commission.
Other parties won significantly fewer votes.
Pamfilova conceded, however, that the election “was not sterile”, adding that reports of ballot stuffing were confirmed in three polling stations. Official results in another area showed a turnout double that recorded on the spot.
The perceived fairness of the election could be a critical factor in whether protests arise following the voting.
It was vote-rigging which sparked anti-government street protests after the last parliamentary election. “Legal restrictions on basic rights continue to be a problem”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin “once again received a massive vote of confidence from the country’s people”. In 2011, the turnout was 60.2 percent, in 2007 – 59 percent. Another 225 seats in the Duma are awarded in a single-constituency system, which means a district is represented by a single winner-takes-all candidate. Head of the CEC Ella Pamfilova told reporters Monday that she did not expect any significant changes in the results.
The 63-year-old Putin, after 17 years in power as either president or prime minister, still enjoys a high personal approval rating of about 80 percent. United Russia was described as “the party of crooks and thieves” by the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but although many Russians have disdain for corrupt local leaders, United Russia remains electable due to its association with Putin and a lack of viable alternatives.
The elections come more than a year after key opposition figure Boris Nemtsov was murdered; he was gunned down in February of 2015.
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As in 2011, A Just Russia was the only other party to win seats, with 6 percent of the votes.
