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Reuters

Russia’s ruling United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, has lost one-third of its seats in the Moscow parliament, near complete data cited by Russian news agencies showed on Monday, in an awkward setback for the Kremlin.
However, the party still retained its majority in the Moscow assembly following Sunday’s nationwide local elections, and its candidates for regional governor appeared to have won in St Petersburg and in 15 other parts of the vast country.
The outcome of the local elections was closely watched in Moscow after the exclusion of many opposition candidates triggered the biggest protests there in nearly a decade.
Public anger over more than five years of falling incomes and an unpopular increase in the pension age also helped fuel the Moscow protests, with the Communist Party benefiting most in Sunday’s polls from the discontent.
One-man protests in Moscow as Russian opposition demands fair elections
Putin’s spokesman told reporters the Kremlin thought United Russia had done well despite the setback in Moscow.
“In general the election campaign across Russia was very successful for the United Russia party. It won more in some places than others. But in general for the country the party showed its political leadership,” said the spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

The Kremlin was not inclined to link the Moscow result to a protest vote, added Peskov.
Prominent opposition politician Alexei Navalny and his allies saw the Moscow poll as an opportunity to make inroads against United Russia ahead of a national parliamentary election in 2021.
Russian blogger sentenced to five years in a penal colony over an ‘extremist’ tweet
Navalny’s close allies were among those excluded from the Moscow vote and he had advised supporters to vote tactically for the candidates with the best chance of defeating United Russia.
He saw the results as vindicating his strategy, though other activists were unhappy that he had asked people to hold their noses and vote for parties that cooperate with the Kremlin.

United Russia was on track to control 26 of the Moscow’s parliament’s 45 seats, data showed, meaning it will not have to rely on the Communists, who in any case have often voted with the ruling party on major national issues to get things done.
In the last Moscow election in 2014, United Russia performed better, winning 28 seats in its own name and a further 10 through independent candidates whom it had backed.
Russia: Vladimir Putin’s 20 years on the global stage
The Communist Party won 13 seats on Sunday, up from five, at the expense of United Russia, the data showed. Two other opposition parties, the opposition Yabloko Party and the Fair Russia Party, appeared to have won three each.
Several videos circulating on social media showed some voters openly stuffing ballot boxes with multiple voting slips.
United Russia’s Moscow candidates rebranded as independents in an apparent effort to distance themselves from the party, whose popularity is at a more than decade-long low, a tactic that appears not to have paid off.

Local or regional elections took place on Sunday across all of Russia’s 11 time zones. United Russia also suffered a setback in an election for the Khabarovsk region’s local parliament in the Far East winning just two seats.
But the main focus was on Moscow, where the Central Election Commission refused in July to register a large number of opposition candidates, saying they had failed to collect enough signatures from genuine backers.
That decision triggered the biggest sustained protest movement in Russia since 2011-2013.
Putin’s own popularity rating, at more than 60%, is much higher than most Western leaders, though lower than it has been previously. The former KGB officer won a landslide election victory last year that will keep him in office until 2024.


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Russia

Russia’s ruling pro-Putin party loses one-third of seats in Moscow election after big protests

Police detain a protester in Moscow in July. File photo: Reuters

Election commission officials start to count votes at a polling station during governor's and a region's council elections, with the portrait of former Soviet leader Josef Stalin right in the background, in Volgograd, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019. Residents of Russia are voting in different local elections that is shadowed by a wave of protests in Moscow that saw the biggest demonstrator turnout in seven years and a notably violent police response. (AP Photo/Dmitriy Rogulin)

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, with his wife Yulia, right, daughter Daria, and son Zakhar pose for media after voting during a city council election in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019. Residents of Russia's capital are voting in a city council election that is shadowed by a wave of protests that saw the biggest demonstrator turnout in seven years and a notably violent police response. (AP Photo/Andrew Lubimov)

Police detain a man during a protest in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019. Tens of thousands of people rallied Saturday against the exclusion of some city council candidates from Moscow's upcoming election, turning out for one of the Russian capital's biggest political protests in years. After the rally, which was officially sanctioned, hundreds of participants streamed to an area near the presidential administration building to continue with an unauthorized demonstration. (Evgeny Feldman, Meduza via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin casts his vote at a polling station during to the Moscow city Duma elections. Photo: AP

One-man protests in Moscow as Russian opposition demands fair elections

In a move to circumvent restrictions by the authorities, activists took turns to hold protest signs as such demonstrations do not technically need approval. Photo: Reuters

People dance as the communist party supporters wave red flags during a protest in the center of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019. People rallied Saturday against the exclusion of some city council candidates from Moscow's upcoming election. (AP Photo)

Russian Communist Party members and supporters attend a protest rally against the exclusion of some city council candidates from Moscow's upcoming election in central Moscow on August 17, 2019. - Moscow was set for fresh protests on August 17, the latest in a wave of demonstrations that has seen tens of thousands take to the streets after opposition figures were banned from local elections a month ago. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

Communist party supporters wave red flags during a protest in the center of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019. People rallied Saturday against the exclusion of some city council candidates from Moscow's upcoming election. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

People rallied against the exclusion of some city council candidates from Moscow's upcoming election. Photo: AP

Russian blogger sentenced to five years in a penal colony over an ‘extremist’ tweet

Vladislav Sinitsa, 30, posted the tweet in the wake of a police crackdown against protesters who have called for free elections. Photo: AFP

TOPSHOT - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny speaks to journalists as he leaves the detention centre in Moscow on August 23, 2019. - Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was released on August 23, 2019, after serving 30 days in jail for urging protests against the exclusion of opposition candidates from upcoming elections in Moscow, his spokeswoman said. (Photo by Vasily MAXIMOV / AFP)

Russia: Vladimir Putin’s 20 years on the global stage

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow in 2006. File photo: AFP

(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 06, 2000 Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) wears a navy officer's uniform while watching the tactical exercises of the Northern Fleet in the Barentsevo Sea from the "Karelia" nuclear submarine. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by - / POOL / AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) takes part in a judo training session during a meeting with Russian national judo team in Moscow on January 8, 2016. / AFP / SPUTNIK / ALEKSEY NIKOLSKY

(FILES) In this file photo taken on July 24, 2010 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides Harley Davidson Lehman Trike as he leaves the meeting with motorbikers at their camp at Gasfort Lake near Sevastopol in Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO / POOL / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 16, 2005 Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for a picture inside the Tupolev-160 strategic bomber jet at the Olenogorsk military airport, near Murmansk. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by VLADIMIR RADIONOV / ITAR-TASS / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 19, 2018 Russian President Vladimir Putin looks through the scope as he shoots a Chukavin sniper rifle (SVC-380) during a visit to the military Patriot Park in Kubinka, outside Moscow. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by Alexey NIKOLSKY / SPUTNIK / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 30, 2015 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV / SPUTNIK / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 19, 1999 Russian President Boris Yeltsin (R) shakes hands with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow's Kremlin. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by Elmira KOZHAYEVA / ITAR-TASS POOL / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 05, 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin swims the butterfly during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by ALEXEY DRUZHININ / SPUTNIK / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 03, 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by ALEXEY DRUZHININ / SPUTNIK / AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, centre, sits on board a bathyscaphe as it plunges into the Black sea along the coast of Sevastopol, Crimea, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. President Vladimir Putin plunged into the Black Sea to see the wreckage of a sunk ancient merchant ship which was found in the end of May. (Alexei Nikolsky/RIA-Novosti, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 16, 2015 Russia's President Vladimir Putin smiles during an ice hockey match as part of the Night Hockey league tournament in Sochi. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by Alexey NIKOLSKY / SPUTNIK / AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2005. File photo: AFP

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The result follows the biggest Moscow street protests in years
Many opposition candidates were excluded from vote



The result follows the biggest Moscow street protests in years.


Vladimir Putin

Russia’s ruling pro-Putin party loses one-third of seats in Moscow election after big protests

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} The result follows the biggest Moscow street protests in years Many opposition candidates were excluded from vote

The result follows the biggest Moscow street protests in years

Many opposition candidates were excluded from vote