In the absence of any real opposition, Russian leader Vladimir Putin's United Russia party has won a record 355 seats in the parliamentary election — surpassing the previous record of 343 seats it secured in 2016.
In the absence of any real opposition, Russian leader Vladimir Putin's United Russia party has won a record 355 seats in the parliamentary election, Central Election Commission Chairperson Ella Pamfilova has said.
With the Monday's result, United Russia surpassed the previous record of 343 seats it secured in 2016.
United Russia won 208 of the 225 seats directly contested by candidates and the rest by proportional representation.
Russia's Communist party came second with 40 seats, followed by the nationalist LDPR party with 25 seats and New People party with 20 seats.
In the absence of any real opposition, Russian leader Vladimir Putin's United Russia party has won a record 355 seats in the parliamentary election — surpassing the previous record of 343 seats it secured in 2016.
In the absence of any real opposition, Russian leader Vladimir Putin's United Russia party has won a record 355 seats in the parliamentary election, Central Election Commission Chairperson Ella Pamfilova has said.
With the Monday's result, United Russia surpassed the previous record of 343 seats it secured in 2016.
In the 450-member Duma, half of the members are elected directly by voters, and the other half are elected by proportional representation. United Russia won 208 of the 225 seats directly contested by candidates and the rest by proportional representation.
These elections were marked by many firsts: the first since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the first held in the four Ukrainian regions annexed illegally by Russia, and the first conducted without even a token opposition. In the run-up to the vote, the Kremlin banned Yabloko and barred most candidates who offered even mild criticism of Putin.
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As Firstpost's Madhur Sharma noted, the Kremlin had for years allowed Yabloko and a bunch of marginal opposition figures to contest elections and cited their participation as proof that Russia being a multiparty democracy with a diversity of political views. Observers dubbed these groups 'systemic opposition' — tolerated by Putin but never allowed to mount a serious challenge to his rule. But even that limited tolerance ended this time.
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Pamfilova said that 95 per cent of votes had been counted and formal results are expected to be published later this week. She added that the country witnessed a turnout of around 58 per cent.
Russia's Communist party came second with 40 seats, followed by the nationalist LDPR party with 25 seats and New People party with 20 seats. All of these parties are effectively proxies for United Russia.
'Duma elections another major setback for Russian democracy'
The European Union (EU) has rejected the Russian elections as a sham, with EU Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas saying that "Duma elections marked another major setback for Russian democracy" and the results were already decided.
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"The Kremlin silenced dissent, barred the only registered party that opposed its war in Ukraine, and shut out international election monitors. The veneer of democracy is all that remains in Russia," Kallas said in a statement.
Kallas flagged that Russia did not allow observers from Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in violation of the binding commitments undertaken by all member-states. Russia had declared the OSCE as a biased organisation and not allowed it to observe the elections.
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Kallas further said that all those who contested the seats in the Ukraine's annexed territories or organised the election in those seats would be sanctioned.
"The European Union reiterates that it does not and will never recognise either the holding of these so-called 'elections' in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or their results. Those involved in organising these sham elections or standing as candidates in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as those responsible for undermining the possibility of free and fair elections inside Russia, will be sanctioned," said Kallas.
