Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party is heading toward a comfortable victory in the parliamentary elections, garnering 57.5% of the vote, the Central Election Commission announced today, with nearly 14% of the votes counted.
According to an exit poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), a state-run institute, United Russia is expected to win 49.4% of the vote (roughly the same percentage as in the 2021 elections).
This three-day voting period for parliamentary and local elections is the first to take place since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and concern the election of the 450 members of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament; they were also held in Ukrainian territories that have been occupied and annexed by Russia.
President Putin has described the election as a test of support for the war in Ukraine.
The election result is generally expected in a country where dissent is harshly suppressed by the authorities, and since there is no real opposition, with the only party openly opposed to the war, Yabloko, having been barred from the process.
Source: Proto Thema
