New Delhi: Russia’s ruling party maintained its supremacy in parliament, while ensuring that President Vladimir Putin retained his absolute power after the election, which stunned most opposition politicians and was surrounded by numerous reports of violations.
The ruling United Russia party received 49.8 percent of the votes for 225 seats divided by parties in results released Monday from nearly 99 percent of the country’s polling stations, the Associated Press reported, according to the Central Election Commission.
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Since the 225 MPs are elected directly by the electorate, the United Russia candidate was leading in 198 in the result.
The election is important to ascertain whether Putin’s complete control slipped before the 2024 presidential election, albeit slightly, although it is unclear whether he will run again, choose a successor or outline a different path.
Whatever the plan, an obedient State Duma, or parliament, would be the key to see it through.
As the Associated Press reports, the head of the commission, Alla Pamfilova, confirmed that United Russia retained the so-called constitutional majority in parliament, or at least two-thirds of the 450 seats required by the party. Changes in the constitution of the country.
The results further indicate that there will be almost no opposition voice in the Duma as reportedly three other parties that usually toe the Kremlin line are set to occupy the remaining as many seats. The remaining three include the New People Party, which was created last year and is believed to be a project sponsored by the Kremlin.
The head of the Central Election Commission pointed out that candidates from three other parties won one seat each, so a total of eight political parties would be represented in the Duma.
As per the AP report, he said the turnout stood at 51 per cent.
Allegations of misappropriation of results
The Communist Party received 19 percent of the party-list vote, an improvement from the 13 percent it achieved in the 2016 election. United Russia has seen some decline since it got around 54 percent of the vote five years ago.
Meanwhile, concerns were expressed on Monday about alleged rigging of results, with many saying a breakdown of online voting in Moscow was still not available to the public.
Results in the other six regions that were allowed to vote online are detailed.
Meanwhile, the ruling party’s victory was surprising as some opposition candidates were not even allowed to run this year after Russian officials launched a crackdown on Kremlin critics.
Organizations linked to imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny were declared extremists, and those affiliated with him were barred from seeking public office under a new law.
Navalni is serving a two-year prison sentence for violating parole on a previous sentence, which he says is politically motivated.
Several other prominent opposition leaders either faced prosecution or were forced to leave the country under pressure.
There were also several reports of violations, including ballot-stuffing.
According to reports, some videos on social media showed people trying to stuff thick piles of ballots into boxes as they tried to block the view of surveillance cameras by picking up mops or pieces of cardboard. He said the assault on election watchdogs was also caught on camera.
While Kremlin critics alleged violations in the manner reported during the 2011 parliamentary election, Pamfilova, the head of the Central Election Commission, said there were fewer this year than before. As per the AP report, 25,830 ballots were invalidated in 35 constituencies.
Putin thanks russians
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin views the election “very positively” in terms of its “competition, transparency and fairness”.
Noting the higher turnout than in 2011, Putin thanked Russians for “trust and a proactive approach to life”, the agency said.
Voting had to be extended for three days due to the coronavirus pandemic. In seven of Russia’s more than 80 regions, voters were also given the option to cast ballots online.
While officials said the measures were taken to reduce crowding at booths during the pandemic, election observers alleged that this left more room for manipulating the results.
According to the AP report, the Moscow-related results were particularly debated as nearly 2 million votes were cast online, and the results of some races changed dramatically at the last minute.
Navalny’s top strategist Leonid Volkov wrote on Facebook: “The results of the incredible fraudulent online voting in Moscow must be completely invalidated.”
(with agency input)
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