Russia’s ruling party wins parliamentary elections
Near final results show Vladimir Putin's political allies have won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, putting the Russian leader on course for a fourth term in 2018 polls.
The Central Election Commission said on Monday the ruling United Russia party was on track to win 343 seats or 76 percent of 450 available seats in Russia's Duma, with 93 percent of ballots counted.
That is up from 238 seats in the last parliamentary election in 2011.
The Communist Party trailed behind with 13.9 percent, while the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia came third and fourth with 13.7 percent and 6.2 percent respectively.
Putin said the win showed voters still trusted the leadership despite an economic slowdown made worse by Western sanctions over Ukraine. "We can say with certainty that the party has achieved a very good result; it's won."
He made the remarks at the United Russia headquarters, where he arrived together with Dmitry Medvedev, who is prime minister and the party's leader.
Medvedev also said that his party would end up with an “absolute majority” in the Duma.
According to electoral officials, some 47.8 of voters cast their ballots in the elections. The Central Election Commission said violations registered at Sunday's elections were significantly lower than in previous ones.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and up to 1,500 journalists from 154 media outlets, including 85 foreign ones, were covering the Russian elections.
The vote comes as Putin's approval ratings remain high at around 80 percent and authorities appear to be banking on trouble-free presidential elections in two years.
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