After counting more than 70 percent of the votes, United Russia was more than 48 percent, as the election commission announced in Moscow on Monday. The communists ended up with more than 20 percent. Opponents of the Kremlin Party and observers complained about irregularities in the capital Moscow.
The right-wing populists of the ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s LDPR won almost 8 percent and the Just Russia party a little more than 7 percent. The new party Nowyje Ljudi (German: New People) was just above the five percent hurdle. All parties are considered close to the Kremlin.
Still no results of the online voting
Even more than twelve hours after the polls closed, there were no results of the online vote for the State Duma on Monday morning. “We are convinced that the votes of the electronic voting have not yet been published because they want to falsify the elections,” said the non-party candidate Mikhail Lobanov. The professor and his staff announced that they would fight for every vote.
Lobanov had let himself be set up by the communists and was also supported by the opposition around the imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, which was not allowed to vote. The media in the capital were also surprised that ballot papers were counted faster by hand than online voting. The polling stations were closed on Sunday at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CEST). The results of the online voting were released from other parts of the country a few hours after the polling stations closed.
The United Russia (United Russia) party, supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin, celebrated its victory on Sunday evening when few votes were counted. She hoped for a new majority of 300 of the 450 seats in parliament thanks to many direct mandates. 225 seats are allocated through direct mandates.
The Kremlin Party has apparently suffered losses
Compared to the Duma elections in 2016, the Kremlin party has apparently suffered losses. At that time she got 54.20 percent of the vote. The communists made significant gains – five years ago they had reached 13.35 percent. Surveys had shown United Russia to be less than 30 percent, given the great dissatisfaction with the economic and social situation before the election.
The Navalnys camp spoke of massive electoral fraud. Nawalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch wrote on Twitter that she was reminded of the 2011 vote when “our election was stolen”. “It’s impossible to come to terms with it.” Navalny confidante Leonid Volkov said: “These elections are dirtier than those of 2011 – much dirtier.” Volkov also criticized the fact that the results of the online voting had not yet been published in Moscow. “Obviously they are waiting to adjust the numbers,” said the Navalny team.
In the meantime, United Russia has lost its majority in the Far Eastern region of Yakutia. In the republic in eastern Siberia, where devastating forest fires have been raging for months, around 35 percent of the people voted for the communists. The party recorded an increase of almost 20 percentage points compared to the Duma election five years ago, according to publications by the election commission. United Russia only ended up in second place with around 33 percent.
Around 110 million eligible voters
In Russia and abroad, around 110 million eligible voters were called upon to appoint a new State Duma for the next five years. There were 14 parties to choose from, and there were hardly any real opposition candidates among the candidates. The polls were overshadowed by hundreds of complaints about massive violations. The Interior Ministry said 750 complaints had been received. There were no serious violations.
The election was seen as an important test of sentiment for Putin and his politics. According to surveys, many people in Russia are dissatisfied with the situation due to falling wages and massively rising prices. United Russia had been blamed for this in advance. Your polls were below 30 percent.
The supporters celebrated the election victory in Moscow that evening – despite the rain. “We are Putin’s team,” cried activists loyal to the Kremlin. Party officials said at a performance that Putin’s course would be continued. They shouted “Putin, Putin, Putin”. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the outcome of the election was a “feast day”.
Election commission examines complaints
Independent observers from the Golos organization had listed thousands of violations across the country – mostly with photo and video recordings. The Golos expert Andrei Busin called the extent “significant” – especially in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg. There, people literally fought for their votes, as can be seen on videos. In many cases, ballot boxes were crammed full of pre-filled voting slips. There were also reports of compulsory voting, for example among government employees, as well as multiple votes.
The central election commission announced that it would investigate the complaints. More than 8,500 ballots had been canceled by Sunday evening, it said. Election supervisor Ella Pamfilowa said that twelve cases have so far been confirmed in which packs of ballot papers have been stuffed into the urns. The communists, too, who, in view of the widespread dissatisfaction with the Kremlin’s policies, are hoping for an increase in votes, complained of violations in many cases. They announced protests.
