This time round the authorities have made a show of cleaning up the vote by replacing the former scandal-tainted election chief and allowing more genuine opposition candidates to take part.
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The 2011 elections took place with oil at $100-plus a barrel, a growing economy, indexed pensions, and a balanced budget.
Russians on Sunday (Sept 18) voted in parliamentary polls, with parties loyal to President Vladimir Putin set to maintain their dominance despite the Kremlin making a show of cleaning up the vote after mass protests last time around. Under Putin, the Kremlin has largely neutered Russia’s political debates, creating a pseudo-opposition and marginalizing actual opponents by jailing or blocking them from running, largely barring them from television, and harassing their campaigns.
With 10 percent of votes counted, early results suggest that the ruling United Russia party heads the polls with 45.95 per cent, followed by right-wing party LDPR with 17.4 per cent and the Russian Communist Party with 16.76 per cent.
“We can say with certainty that the party has won”, Putin told campaign workers at the United Russia headquarters, standing alongside United Russia leader and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
It was vote-rigging which sparked anti-government street protests after the last parliamentary election.
Ella Pamfilova’s statement came Sunday as Russians cast ballots for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament.
Though the overall tally for United Russia was higher than the 49 per cent it claimed in 2011, participation was low, particularly in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Putin does not belong to any party. The violations included long lines of servicemen voting where they were not registered to do so.
Russia’s elections commission head says results from voting for parliament in a Siberian region could be annulled if allegations of vote fraud there are confirmed.
While there was no official turn out figure immediately available on Sunday evening, figures a few showed less than 40 percent of voters had cast their ballots a few hours before polls closed.
Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Gorovoy said in televised comments that police are looking into the potential of fraud in both Altai and in Rostov, but said he hadn’t seen “the actual facts of the so-called cruise voting”.
Information about violations is coming constantly from various regions, said Ilya Shablinsky, a member of Russias Presidential Council for Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.
Pamfilova conceded that boosting the turnout in the areas where it was expected to be low might explain the voters traveling by bus and denied suggestions of multiple voting.
With the final result never in doubt, there was a sensation of the system going through the motions and the majority of Russians appeared to opt out of the vote, viewing it as of little relevance.
The nationwide elections follow several years of tumult that have seen the country annex Crimea from Ukraine, lurch into its worst stand-off with the West since the Cold War, plunge into economic crisis and launch a military campaign in Syria. Pamfilova pledged to stand down if the election is proven to be rigged. The last parliament was elected on party lists alone. Prospects for the single-district races were unclear.
The authorities have also resurrected an old voting system viewed as more equitable, which means that half of parliament will be decided by people voting for individuals with the other half drawn from party lists.
Many Russians said they can’t remember a more lackluster election run.
“I knew who to vote for”.
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But opinion surveys are also showing high levels of voter apathy, so turnout in the elections will be carefully watched.
