Amid strong allegations of fraud, Putin’s party maintains Duma leadership with 60% of the vote

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party United Russia, won the parliamentary elections held in Russia on September 17, 18 and 19, with more than 47% of the vote, according to the latest data provided by the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Russia.

After reviewing the 60.06% of the vote, United Russia obtains 47.16% of the support and continues to reach the constitutional majority in the Duma or lower house of the Russian Parliament.

In addition, the ruling party’s candidates are leading in 193 majority constituencies out of the 225 at stake.

For the constitutional majority, the Kremlin party is due to win over 300 of the Duma’s 450 seats.

In second force, according to preliminary data from the CEC, the Communist Party remains with 20.89% of support, against 13.34% it obtained in the 2016 elections.

The Liberal Democratic Party (7.9%), the Social Democrats of Fair Russia (7.54%) and the newly formed New People (5.77%) also exceed the 5% threshold required to enter the hemicycle.

These parties traditionally vote on major issues with United Russia, so they are called systemic opposition.

United Russia’s result would guarantee an absolute majority for the Kremlin party, because, in addition to being at the top of the list, their candidates won the majority of the 225 majority constituencies.

More than 110 million citizens were called to the polls, of which 2.6 million had registered for electronic voting, activated in Moscow and six regions.

The Communist Party was the big beneficiary of the Kremlin’s erosion of strength and the persecution of the extra-parliamentary opposition led by Alexei Navalny.

Turnout in the elections, which lasted for three days due to the covid-19 pandemic, exceeded 45%, according to official data.

In the Russian parliamentary elections held in 2016, the turnout was 47.88%.

In these elections, the ruling party won over 54.20% of the vote, allowing it to add 334 seats and pass laws without having to agree with the systemic opposition in parliament. .

This means that, despite the majority in the new Duma, the worst result since 2003 and a considerable loss of confidence on the part of Russian citizens.

This Sunday, shortly before the school closes, Communists denounced fraud in various regions of the country, from the European part to Siberia and the Far East.

In turn, the CEC downplayed the infractions, arguing that they did not influence the final outcome of the elections.

The Interior Ministry also confirmed that during the three voting days there were no irregularities that could affect the results of the parliamentary elections.

However, the complaints were supported by independent observers and the independent press, who also criticized the lack of extra-parliamentary opposition representatives in the elections.

FRAUD COMPLAINTS

Communists denounced many irregularities in these elections, which lasted for three days and for the first time enabled electronic voting in Moscow and six regions, a platform which opposition inside and outside the Duma says facilitates fraud.

According to the organization goals, which watches over the rights of voters, the main problem of “national scale” was the forced vote of the military and civil servants, home voting fraud and attempts to obstruct the work of observers.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) admitted certain irregularities by canceling 8,539 votes in 17 regions and by counting 12 ballot cases by filling out eight.

Despite the complaints, the president of the electorate, Ella Pamfilova, assured that there have been several times fewer irregularities than five years ago.

Also the Ministry of the Interior minimized violations, arguing that they do not influence the end result.

However, Preliminary data cannot mask the wear and tear that the party has suffered after 20 years in power.

Social discontent with the coronavirus pandemic and the country’s economic situation – with year-on-year inflation of 6.68% in August and 17.8 million citizens with incomes below subsistence level – weighed in the polls , according to polls before the elections already predicted.

(With information from EFE)

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