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Russia's ruling pro-Putin party wins majority after crackdown

September 20, 2021 / 8:52 AM
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Sharjah24 – Reuters: Russia's ruling United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, retained its parliamentary majority after an election and a sweeping crackdown on its critics, despite losing over a tenth of its support, partial results on Monday showed.
With 64% of ballots counted, the Central Election Commission said United Russia had won nearly 48% of the vote, with its nearest rival, the Communist Party, at about 21%.

Although that amounts to an emphatic win, it looks like a somewhat weaker performance for United Russia than the last time a parliamentary election was held in 2016, when the party won just over 54% of the vote.

A malaise over years of faltering living standards and allegations of corruption from jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have drained some support, compounded by a tactical voting campaign organised by Navalny's allies.

Kremlin critics, who alleged large-scale vote rigging, said the election was in any case a sham.

United Russia would have fared worse in a fair contest, given a pre-election crackdown that outlawed Navalny's movement, barred his allies from running and targeted critical media and non-governmental organisations, they said.

Electoral authorities said they had voided any results at voting stations where there had been obvious irregularities and that the overall contest had been fair.
September 20, 2021 / 8:52 AM

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