Putin heads for United Russia victory in parliamentary election

The result also showed the weakness of the opposition led by jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who claimed the vote was neither free nor fair. Ahead of the three-day vote that ended on Sunday, the Kremlin has largely suppressed any protests.

A preliminary tally with 95% of ballots showed that the Kremlin United Russia won about 50% of the vote, followed by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation at 19% and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia with about 7% of the vote. The Election Commission of Russia announced this on Monday.

The results showed that United Russia was set to win a two-thirds majority of the 450 seats in the State Duma, which would allow it to amend the constitution. Such a majority would make it easier for Mr Putin to support any effort he makes to extend his time in power beyond his current term, which expires in 2024.

United Russia’s previous majority of 334 seats allowed Putin to easily push through constitutional reforms, giving him the option of remaining in power for 12 years. The Kremlin leader helped found United Russia and still supports it, although he is not a formal member.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday: “A united Russia has certainly accomplished the task of reaffirming its leadership.” He said Mr. Putin evaluates the result positively. “The most important thing for the competition, openness and honesty of the elections was and is the president.”

The ruling party’s victory signals to Russian allies and rivals alike that Mr. Putin’s control over the main levers of power in Russia remains steadfast. Russian relations with the West, particularly the US, are at their lowest level since the Cold War.

Tensions remain between the US and Russia despite a summit between President Biden and his Russian counterpart in June. The US has imposed sanctions on several government and business leaders close to Mr Putin as punishment at Washington’s behest for Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

The election result of United Russia is less than the 54% won in the 2016 election. Analysts said the success of communists and liberal parties in reducing the ruling party’s dominance reflects the level of dissatisfaction with the ruling party.

But the gains of these opposition parties, which have been sanctioned by the Kremlin, are unlikely to present Mr Putin with any imminent political threat as they have in the past largely supported the Russian leader for voting in favor of the legislation. We do.

Abbas Galyamov, a Moscow-based political adviser and former speechwriter to Mr. Putin, said: “Putin reaffirmed his control over the country. Considering all the measures taken against the opposition and all the repression, the result is not surprising.”

The so-called non-systemic opposition, especially one led by Mr Navalny, described the election results as a farce and accused Mr Putin’s government of stealing votes.

“This is truly unimaginable,” tweeted Mr Navalny’s press secretary, Kira Yarmish. “I remember the feeling of election stealing in 2011. And the same thing is happening now. It’s impossible to get used to it. It’s impossible to accept it.”

Opposition parties, independent observers and activists reported incidents of vote-tampering, including ballot stuffing and pressure on employees of state-owned companies to vote. The head of Russia’s Central Election Commission, Alla Pamfilova, said on Sunday that there were 12 cases of ballot fillings and that the agency had invalidated nearly 8,500 ballots, a number that could rise, according to state news agency, RIA Novosti.

Analysts said the results showed that the non-systemic opposition, surrounded by heavy crackdown on its workers by authorities in the lead-up to the vote, would struggle to present a credible political challenge.

The gains for candidates backed by the systemic opposition show that it is consolidating its electoral base, but is still unable to convert that growing support into real power, Mr. Galyamov said.

“United Russia’s “tremendous victory will be regarded as a sign of public confidence in the government’s performance,” Andreas Tursa, consultant for Central and Eastern Europe at consulting firm Teneo, wrote in a note to clients on Monday. Votes cannot be considered. as free and fair, while [United Russia’s] The election results mask the declining popularity of President Vladimir Putin’s regime.”

Mr Putin’s approval rating has dropped from 61 per cent in August to 90% in 2015, according to the independent pollster Levada Center, as living standards have stabilized in recent years.

This story has been published without modification to the text from a wire agency feed