A senior official of the United Russia party estimates that his party has won at least 315 of the 450 terms at stake. The opposition denounces multiple frauds.
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No surprise in Russia. The ruling United Russia party leads the Russian legislative elections on Monday, September 20. The training of President Vladimir Putin claims to have won more than two-thirds of the seats in parliament. Senior United Russia official Andrei Turchak believes his team has won at least 315 out of 450 terms at stake, hails victory “clear and clean”.
After the count of 85% of polling stations, Vladimir Putin’s party is at 49.76%, ahead of the Communists (19.61%). This non-final result is down from 2016, when United Russia secured 54% of the vote. The party then had 334 elected officials.
The anti-Kremlin opposition was essentially excluded from this election. The presidency had in fact dismissed all the most dangerous competitors to ensure for its party, United Russia, the majority of seats in the Duma. Failing to have been able to participate in the elections, the supporters of the imprisoned opponent Alexeï Navalny had in reaction called to vote for the candidates best placed to beat those of United Russia, very often the Communists.
In view of the preliminary results of the latter, Navalny’s supporters claimed the success of their strategy of “smart vote”. They also accused the authorities of massive falsifications during the nightly vote count, denouncing a “moral bankruptcy” power.
Some 108 million Russians were called to the polls, between Friday and Sunday, to elect the 450 deputies of the lower house of Parliament. Local and regional elections also took place.