Russian President, Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party has won a landslide victory in the country’s just concluded a parliamentary election.
The Central Election Commission said that the near final results showed on Monday in Moscow that it has paved the way for Putin to run for a fourth term as president in 18 months if, as expected, he chooses to do so.
The ruling United Russia party was founded by Putin almost 16 years ago after he first became president.
The commission said, that after 93 per cent of ballots had been counted, the party is on track to win 343 seats or 76 per cent of 450 available seats in Russia’s Duma, the lower house of parliament.
They added that after the last election, in 2011, anger at ballot-rigging prompted large protests in Moscow, and the Kremlin is so anxious to avoid a repetition of that.
Election official said that turnout was nearly 48 per cent, substantially lower than the 60 per cent turnout at the last parliamentary election.
The commission said that not everything went Putin’s way though.
It said that near complete results showed that the turnout was around 48 per cent, down from nearly 60 per cent in 2011, suggesting apathy among some Russians and a softening of enthusiasm for the ruling elite.
Putin said on Sunday night that the win showed voters still trusted the leadership in spite of 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.
“We know that life is hard for people, there are lots of problems, lots of unresolved problems. Nevertheless, we have this result,’’ he said.
Sergei Neverov, Secretary of United Russia’s General Council, hailed the result describing it as an endorsement of Putin and his policies.
“We are grateful to our people for supporting United Russia, a party founded by Vladimir Putin, for backing a course that is being implemented today by our president.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s Spokesman, told reporters the “overwhelming majority” of voters had come out for Putin, handing him what he called “an impressive vote of confidence.”
Meanwhile, observers said that there were some reports of voting irregularities.
They noted that at one polling station in the Mordovia region of central Russia witnessed several people casting their ballot, then coming back later and voting again.
The observers said that there were some evidence of voter apathy during the day on Sunday as people went to polling stations across Russia’s 11 times zones, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea.
A taxi driver in Ufa, just over 1,350 km (840 miles) east of Moscow, said that voting “was like urinating into a blocked toilet.
