Ruling Party Supporting Putin Scores 49% in Preliminary Count of Russian General Election

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyungsoo] The United Russia party, the political support base of President Vladimir Putin, has tentatively been counted as winning the Russian State Duma election with a vote share approaching 50%.

According to the local Central Election Commission, as of the morning of the 20th (local time), with 80% of the votes counted, United Russia is leading with 49.4% of the vote.

Following them, the main opposition Communist Party received 19.8%, the far-right nationalist Liberal Democratic Party got 7.5%, and the social-democratic party "A Just Russia ? For Truth" secured 7.3% of the votes.

The newly established center-right party "New People," founded last year, also achieved a vote share of 5.3%, surpassing the 5% threshold required for seat allocation.

In the constituency vote count, United Russia is leading in 194 out of 225 electoral districts. The Communist Party leads in 15 districts, A Just Russia ? For Truth in 8, and the Liberal Democratic Party in 1 district.

The Russian State Duma consists of 450 members serving five-year terms. If the current vote counting trend continues, United Russia is expected to secure the two-thirds majority (300 seats) needed to unilaterally amend the constitution.

The general election voting was held over three days from the 17th to the 19th due to the impact of COVID-19. The independent election monitoring organization "Golos," designated by Russian authorities as a foreign agent, pointed out about 5,000 cases of fraud at polling stations nationwide.