Incumbent Vladimir Putin‘s party, United Russia, has won a two-thirds majority in Russia’s parliamentary elections. In the early hours of Tuesday (September 21st), the country’s Central Election Commission said the ruling party had won a single victory in the lower house. News from Russian news agency Taser.
According to the report, United Russia received 49.82 percent of the vote in the election. On the other hand, the Communist Party got 18.93 percent votes. The Liberal Democratic Party received 7.55 percent of the vote, followed by Russia with 7.46 percent and the New People with 5.32 percent.
Earlier in the day, voting in 450 constituencies ended on Sunday. Putin then had a virtual meeting with the head of the country’s Central Election Commission. At the time, he expressed special gratitude to the citizens of United Russia for their confidence. However, the opposition has accused the ruling party of rigging the election.
In addition to United Russia, about a dozen parties participated in the election. Opposition groups called for a boycott of the election, but Alexander Navalny, Putin’s main opponent, was not allowed to run.
Meanwhile, the support of United Russia has decreased compared to the 2016 parliamentary elections. The party won more than 54 percent of the vote in the last election. Compared to that, the public support of the Communist Party has increased by 6 percent in this election.
Andrei Turchak, secretary general of the United Russia General Council, told reporters on Monday that the ruling party would win 315 of the 450 seats in the lower house.
According to the BBC, United Russia has gathered a huge victory rally at the party headquarters to mark the election victory. Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow who is close to Putin, was seen shouting “Putin, Putin, Putin”.
