Russia: Ruling United Russia party wins parliamentary election

19 September, Moscow

In Russia, the ruling United Russia party has won the parliamentary election. With 90 percent of the ballots counted, President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party won more than 54 percent of the votes.

Central Election Commission today said, Communist Party and Liberal Democratic Party with about 14 percent each are in second and third place, while A Just Russian party gained about 6 percent of the votes. No other party has overcome the 5 percent threshold for entry into the parliament by party tickets.

Elections to the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, were held yesterday in a split system – 225 members of parliament were elected by party tickets, while the other 225 were elected in one-seat constituencies. More than 111 million people were eligible to vote in the election and no minimal turnout was required.

President Putin has said the win shows voters still trust the leadership despite an economic slowdown made worse by Western sanctions over Ukraine. In the last election for the Duma in 2011, United Russia won 49 percent of the vote.