The Russian State Duma election took place over the weekend, after which the United Russia party, which is a supported of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has claimed a majority result, US media organisation Radio Free Europe reports.
The election of the 450 members of the Russian State Duma took place last week from September 17 to 19. With almost 64 percent of ballots counted, the Central Election Commission stated in the morning of Monday, September 20, that United Russia, which has held parliamentary majority since 2003, had received close to 48% of the vote for the new State Duma. Announcing victory and a majority in the new Duma, United Russia secretary-general Andrey Turchak noted to supporters at party headquarters that the victory was «honest and clean.»
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According to the preliminary results, second came the Communist Party with around 21% and the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of veteran Vladimir Zhirinovsky received around 8%.
Leading liberal opposition figures, however, were not allowed to run in the election. Like organizations linked to imprisoned opposition politician Aleksei Navalny were previously deemed «extremist,» in fact banning anyone from his network from running. One of Navalny’s top aides, Leonid Volkov, noted that authorities planned to manipulate online voting in favour of ruling party candidates, especially in liberal-leaning cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, Radio Free Europe reports.
After Russian parliamentary election, United Russia claims another majority
