A united Russia is likely to retain a two-thirds majority in parliament after the election – PRAVDA.sk

According to the TASS agency, the Russian ruling party United Russia will retain a two-thirds majority in the State Duma (lower house of parliament), which is necessary for the adoption of constitutional changes, after the parliamentary elections.

ČTK,
TASR

20.09.2021 07:18, updated: 12:45

A voter behind a ballot box in a polling station in Moscow during the parliamentary elections in Russia on September 17, 2021

After counting more than 68 percent of ballots, it has more than 48 percent of the vote, compared to the previous election, it has lost the support of about a tenth of its voters.

According to the party candidates, it is decided to fill half of the seats in the 450-member State Duma. The other half of the seats are occupied in single-member constituencies, where United Russia can count on 195 seats.

The Russian parliament, the composition of which the Russians decided from Friday to Sunday evening, is likely to be joined by four other parties that have exceeded the required 5 percent threshold.

The Communists, who have apparently improved since the last elections in 2016 and are now in second place with about 21 percent of the vote, will also sit in parliament. Five years ago, 13.3 percent of voters voted for them.

United Russia and the Communists are followed by Vladimir Zirinovsky’s Liberal Democratic Party of Russia with eight percent of the vote and the Just Russia Party with more than 7.6 percent.

The newly formed New People party has approached the 5 percent mark since previous interim results with 5.97 percent of the vote. All of these parties can be largely considered to be in favor of the Kremlin.

Photo: SITA / AP, Alexandr Dimitrovskiy

State Duma / Elections / Parliament / Russian citizens living in Donetsk show their Russian passports on a bus as they cross the Ukrainian-Russian border to revoke the Russian parliamentary elections in Donetsk on September 17, 2021

United Russia will not achieve the result of the last election, when it won 54 percent. The agencies associate the declining popularity of the party with the deteriorating economic situation in the country and allegations of corruption by the opposition led by the now imprisoned Alexei Navalny.

The authorities excluded his supporters from the election, but the opposition tried to influence the election at least in the form of instructions for a tactical vote against the candidates of United Russia. In many cases, in practice, these councils were aimed at electing the Communists.

The opposition gathered around Navalny considers the Communists’ interim results to be proof of the success of their strategy. She also accused the authorities of widespread fraud at the census and condemned the “moral decline” of the ruling power.

The election decided to fill 450 seats in the State Duma, in which United Russia has so far had almost three-quarters of the representation.

The governing party recorded a significant loss in the elections in the Far East

The pro-Kremlin government party United Russia lost a majority in the Yakut Republic in the Russian Far East in the latest parliamentary elections. The DPA news agency reported on Monday.

The elections were held in the Russian Federation for three days, from Friday 17 September to Sunday 19 September.

In Yakutia, also known as the Republic of Sakha, United Russia finished in second place with about 33 percent of the vote – lagging behind the Communists, who won about 35 percent, an increase of almost 20 percentage points from the last election in 2016. This is shown by the data of the election commission.

Observers attribute the loss of support to the devastating forest fires that have plagued the area for months, and citizens were dissatisfied with the authorities’ response to them.

Representatives of United Russia, which is loyal to Russian President Vladimir Putin, have asked for the number of votes to be checked, the Yakut Electoral Commission said.

This is expected to take place in the middle of the week, said the chairman of the election commission, Yevgeny Fedorov, whose statement was brought by the Russian news agency Interfax.