A united Russia dominated the elections, and the Communists succeeded: a new Kremlin-Topka project penetrated the Duma

Russia’s ruling United Russia won this year’s parliamentary elections. Based on preliminary results and counting more than 98 percent of the vote, it won 49.8 percent of the vote and defended the parliamentary majority.

The communists finished second

According to the Central Election Commission (ÚVK), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) is in second place with 19.05 percent of the vote, and in third place is the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (7.48 percent). In addition, the Fair Russia-Patriots-For Truth party also surpassed the five percent mark with 7.41 percent of the vote and the New People entity (5.36 percent).

Source: TASR / AP Photo / Pavel Golovkin

Peskov rated the election results positively. According to him, the task of United Russia was to confirm its position as a leader, and he succeeded. “Competitiveness, openness and honesty of the last election have been and continue to be the most important for the President, and in this regard we evaluate the electoral process very positively.” said Peskov.

A new project sponsored by the Kremlin

Election Sunday is considered an important part of Putin’s efforts to consolidate power before the presidential election in 2024, in which control of the State Duma will be key, the AFP agency stated.

At the same time, she pointed to the New People party, which according to preliminary results should get to the Duma. It is a party that was formed only last year and is considered by many political scientists to be a “Kremlin-sponsored project.” The AFP recalled that most opposition politicians and activists had been excluded from participating in the parliamentary elections, as the Russian authorities had made great efforts to suppress protests and dissent from government policy.

The election, which lasted three days, was also marked by reports of violations of the electoral law. According to independent observers, an “abnormally high number” of such reports has been reported. In an effort to limit the Kremlin’s influence in the Duma, the team around the opposition politician Alexei Navalny, as part of the Smart Voting project, drew up lists of candidates from other parties whose support would stop the pro-Kremlin ones. AFP added that most of these recommended candidates belonged to KPRF.

The opposition claims that the elections were accompanied by widespread fraud

Russia’s opposition accused Russian authorities of widespread electoral fraud on Monday after preliminary results showed that the United Russia party would gain a two-thirds majority in the State Duma. The AFP agency informed about it.

The three-day vote, which ended on Sunday, followed an unprecedented crackdown on critics of President Vladimir Putin. The AFP recalled that pre-election polls showed historically low support for the Crimean party. It was originally expected that a united Russia could win only about 30 percent of the vote. Allies of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny called the party’s preliminary results of around 50 percent “absurd.”

Source: SITA / AP Photo / Mindaugas Kulbis

“It’s really unbelievable. I remember the feeling from 2011 when the elections were stolen. The same thing is happening right now,” Kira Jarmyšová, a spokeswoman for Navaľný, spoke for AFP. The violent organization was banned as “extremist” before the election and its close allies were arrested or left the country. He called on opposition supporters to a “smart vote”, that is, to support those candidates who could potentially defeat United Russia. The AFP recalled that this strategy may have been partially reflected in the results, as United Russia lost a few percent at the expense of the Communists.

Russia’s opposition says internet voting and the extension of the election to three days have paved the way for electoral fraud. Moscow has officially taken these steps in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The independent election monitor GOLOS announced on Sunday evening that it had recorded more than 4,900 reports of fraud during the vote. The Russian authorities have previously called the non-profit organization a “foreign agent.”

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.

Source: TASR / AP Photo / Pavel Golovkin

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.

According to the Central Election Commission, Kadyrov won 99.7 percent of the vote

According to the Central Election Commission, Chechen authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov won 99.7 percent of all votes cast in the election of the highest representative of the Russian Chechen Republic. The TASS agency informed about it on Monday.

Kadyrov ran for the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. According to political analysts, the result of the vote was “clear in advance”. Kadyrov is a loyal ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Source: SITA / AP Photo / Musa Sadulayev

Critics of the Kremlin say Putin has deliberately overlooked law enforcement in Chechnya because he is counting on Kadyrov, a former insurgent commander, to keep separatist tendencies “in check.” The AFP agency recalled that the authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who has ruled in a predominantly Muslim area for almost two decades, has been creating a cult of personality around him. Human rights organizations accuse his regime of violating human rights.