Milan, 21 Sept. (LaPresse/AP) – According to results released by the Russian Central Electoral Commission, with 95 per cent of the votes counted, Vladimir Putin’s ‘United Russia’ party has secured just under 58 per cent of the votes for the 225 Duma seats allocated to parties in the parliamentary elections held from Friday to Sunday. Furthermore, according to the Electoral Commission, United Russia candidates are leading in 208 of the 225 single-member constituencies. Preliminary results indicate that United Russia will secure 355 out of 450 seats. This marks the end of a carefully orchestrated election campaign, which excluded most opposition candidates and helped the government maintain its firm grip on power. These are the first parliamentary elections since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022 and the first to include residents of four regions that have been illegally occupied and annexed by Moscow. The Kremlin has stepped up its crackdown on the opposition in the run-up to the elections, going so far as to exclude Russia’s only liberal and pacifist party, Yabloko, from the electoral rolls, allowing it to stand only in single-member constituencies.
Russia: Putin’s party wins election; preliminary results show 355 seats in the Duma
Milan, 21 Sept. (LaPresse/AP) – According to results released by the Russian Central Electoral Commission, with 95 per cent of the votes counted, Vladimir Putin’s ‘United Russia’ party has secured just under 58 per cent of the votes for the 225 Duma seats allocated to parties in the parliamentary elections held from Friday to Sunday. Furthermore, according to the Electoral Commission, United Russia candidates are leading in 208 of the 225 single-member constituencies. Preliminary results indicate that United Russia will secure 355 out of 450 seats. This marks the end of a carefully orchestrated election campaign, which excluded most opposition candidates and helped the government maintain its firm grip on power. These are the first parliamentary elections since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022 and the first to include residents of four regions that have been illegally occupied and annexed by Moscow. The Kremlin has stepped up its crackdown on the opposition in the run-up to the elections, going so far as to exclude Russia’s only liberal and pacifist party, Yabloko, from the electoral rolls, allowing it to stand only in single-member constituencies.