Elections in Russia: opponents denounce fraud after the overwhelming majority with which Putin’s party won

Opponents accused Russian authorities of massive fraud the Monday after the ruling United Russia party, which backs President Vladimir Putin, won a larger-than-expected parliamentary majority, despite dissatisfaction with the quality of life.

With 99.9% of ballots counted, the Central Election Commission said United Russia won nearly 50% of the vote, while its closest rival, the Communist Party, ended up with just under 19%.

The scale of the victory means that United Russia will have more than two-thirds of the deputies in the lower house of the State Duma., with 450 seats. This will this will allow the promotion of laws to continue without having to depend on other parties.

United Russia, a party Putin helped found, was still supposed to win. Its fiercest opponents, the allies of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, were barred from running for office after a court called them extremists in June.

Polls leading up to the vote had suggested that Discontent after years of deteriorating quality of life and accusations of corruption are said to weigh on support for United Russia.

At the end, almost final official results showed he was around 4 percentage points lower than last time similar elections were held in 2016.

The United States Department of State has stated that the election conditions had not been conducive to a free and fair process, and the British Foreign Office called the vote a step back for democratic freedom. The head of EU foreign policy, Josep Borrell, said that the bloc took note of the reports of serious violations.

About 200 Communist protesters who felt cheated gathered at a demonstration in Moscow Monday evening, under the eyes of the police.

Candidates opposing United Russia in the capital led in more than half of the 15 constituencies, but they all lost after the addition of electronic votes.

“It’s a shame and a real crime!” Communist candidate Valery Rashkin told the crowd, saying his party would continue to protest until what he called Moscow’s falsified electronic results were quashed.

For its part, Navalny’s allies condemned the results.

“With such a colossal number of rapes, the results of the elections to the State Duma cannot be recognized as fair, honest or legitimate “said Lyubov Sobol, Navalny’s assistant, who is in custody.

The electoral authorities claimed to have canceled the results of the polling stations in which they had been produced. obvious irregularities and that the general review had been fair.

Putin made a short statement thanking voters after the Kremlin welcomed the outcome, claiming that United Russia had confirmed its role as the ruling party. The Kremlin said the elections were competitive, open and fair.

(With information from Reuters)

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