Putin's victory official after poll results announcement

Parliamentary election results confirm that allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin comfortably won the majority of seats.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the United Russia party's campaign headquarters following a parliamentary election in Moscow on Sunday.
Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the United Russia party's campaign headquarters following a parliamentary election in Moscow on Sunday.

Russia's ruling United Russia party are the confirmed winners of Sunday's parliamentary polls, giving the allies of President Vladimir Putin control of the lower house of parliament, or Duma.

United Russia won 54.2 percent of votes, while the Communist Party came second with 13.3 percent. The Liberal Democratic Party was third at 13.1, followed by the Fair Russia Party, which got 6.2 percent of the votes.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's United Russia party will hold 343 out of 450 seats in the State Duma.

The Communist Party will be represented by 42 deputies, while the Liberal Democratic Party, and Fair Russia Party will have 39 and 23 seats, respectively.

The Motherland Party and Civic Platform party will have one seat each. There will also be an independent deputy.

AP

People cast their ballots at a polling station during parliamentary election in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016.

The vote results reaffirm Putin's approval ratings, which remain high at around 80 percent, while authorities appear to be banking on trouble-free presidential elections in two years.

On Sunday night, Putin said that the win showed voters still trusted the leadership despite an economic slowdown made worse by Western sanctions over the Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Reuters

President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visit United Russia's campaign headquarters after a parliamentary election that exit polls suggest will see Putin's party consolidate power.

"We can say with certainty that the party has achieved a very good result; it's won," Putin said at the United Russia headquarters, where he arrived together with his ally, Dmitry Medvedev, who is prime minister and the party's leader.

Referring to the retrogressive economy, Putin said: "We know that life is hard for people, there are lots of problems, lots of unresolved problems. Nevertheless, we have this result."

Reuters

People visit a polling station during the Russian parliamentary election in Sevastopol, Crimea, September 18, 2016.

The ballot for the State Duma was smooth sailing for authorities, desperate to avoid a repeat of mass protests last time round and eager to increase their dominance as Russia faces the longest economic crisis of Putin's rule.

But a low turnout suggested that many Russians may be turned off by a system in which the Kremlin wields near-total power, which could raise questions over legitimacy.

In the last election for the Duma, in 2011, United Russia won 49 percent of the vote.

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