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Russia
WorldRussia & Central Asia

Russia’s ruling pro-Putin party set for commanding win in parliament vote

  • Pre-vote crackdown crushed Kremlin critics
  • Watchdog recorded numerous violations

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Chechen women wearing Chechen national costumes at a polling booth in Grozny, Russia. Photo: AP
Bloomberg
President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party was set to win a decisive victory in legislative polls, authorities said, although discontent eroded support in some regions and opponents alleged widespread fraud.

United Russia was on track to maintain its majority of more than two-thirds of the seats in the State Duma with 75 per cent of ballots counted, according to the Central Election Commission. While the ruling party won most of the regional races, in one major Siberian region, the ruling party came in second to the Communists, a rare defeat.

While Putin personally retains broad support, according to polls, United Russia recorded some of the lowest ratings in nearly a decade earlier this year, scorned by voters angry about stagnant living standards.
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But the Kremlin’s efforts to ensure another crushing victory appeared to pay off. As well as eliminating rival politicians from the vote, authorities pressured Apple and Alphabet’s Google to remove protest voting apps from their online stores. Putin also pitched in with promises of as much as 700 billion roubles (US$9.6 billion) in pension and other spending.

United Russia won 49 per cent of the party-list vote, ahead of the Communist Party, which got 20 per cent, according to results from more than three-quarters of ballots. Together with the district races through which the other half of seats are distributed, United Russia was on track to win about 315 seats out of 450, according to United Russia’s general council secretary Andrei Turchak. That would be down slightly from 334 in the current Duma.

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President Vladimir Putin is Russia’s longest-entrenched ruler since dictator Josef Stalin. Photo: DPA
President Vladimir Putin is Russia’s longest-entrenched ruler since dictator Josef Stalin. Photo: DPA
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