Election in Russia: Election Commission announces victory of the ruling party

rtr/afp | According to official information, the Russian ruling party United Russia clearly won the parliamentary elections. The Central Election Commission announced this on Monday after counting more than 95 percent of the votes. Accordingly, the party received 57.83 percent of the vote after 49.8 percent in the last election to the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, in 2021.

Critics accuse the Russian leadership of not tolerating dissenting opinions in the tightly controlled political system. Most candidates who spoke out against the war were excluded from the election. The liberal Yabloko party is concerned about the safety of its supporters after two leaders were sentenced to long prison sentences for statements about the conflict.

President Vladimir Putin's party won a record number of seats in the lower house of parliament in Russia's parliamentary elections. After almost all votes were counted, the United Russia party got at least 355 out of 450 seats in the Duma, as the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, said on Monday.

According to the data, United Russia would break the previous record set in 2016, when the party won 343 seats in the Duma. Putin's party has won every parliamentary election since 2003.

The recent parliamentary election in Russia was the first since the start of the large-scale offensive against Ukraine in 2022. In addition to United Russia, only other parties loyal to the Kremlin were allowed. The anti-war party Yabloko was excluded from the ballot last month.

For the Kremlin, the election was a barometer of the mood, as the war in Ukraine is increasingly having an impact on the Russian civilian population. The vote also took place in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.