Putin’s United Russia heads for victory

The pro-Putin United Russia party was on Sunday night heading for a sweeping victory in Russian parliamentary elections that opposition parties said were marred by mass violations of election rules and pressure on voters.

Exit polls and preliminary results from Russia’s far eastern regions showed United Russia heading for about 62 per cent of the vote – far ahead of the second-placed Communists on around 11 per cent. Two other parties, the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democrats and left-leaning but also pro-Kremlin Just Russia party, seemed set to pass the 7 per cent threshold to win seats.

Initial results were at the lower end of pre-election opinion polling which put United Russia’s support at 62 to 67 per cent. But after redistribution of votes from parties falling below 7 per cent, it still appeared set for a two-thirds majority of seats in Russia’s lower house, or Duma – enough to change the constitution at will.

The polls were transformed from a simple parliamentary election into a referendum on the popularity of Vladimir Putin after the Russian president announced in October he would head United Russia’s candidate list.

The parliamentary poll marks the start of a crucial two-stage transfer of power in Russia, with presidential elections following in exactly three months’ time.

Sunday’s strong showing by United Russia is expected to provide a platform for Mr Putin to continue to be a significant political figure even if, as expected, he steps down as president as required by the constitution next year. Mr Putin said during the campaign that a solid performance by the pro-Kremlin party would give him a “moral right” to continue to influence events in the country.

Turnout was robust at 60 per cent, four percentage points higher than in the previous elections in 2003.

But the Communists immediately said they would challenge the results with Russia’s Supreme Court, alleging “systemic” abuses of election rules and strong-arming of voters to vote for United Russia.

“If under [President Boris] Yeltsin there were two methods to rig the ballot, one through intimidation, the second by falsifying the ballot papers, now they have invented at least 15 methods of attracting and deceiving the voters,” said Gennady Zyuganov, the Communist party leader.

Other opposition parties and independent observers had already said the polls had seen unprecedented rule-breaking. Golos, a Russian coalition of observers, cited violations ranging from pressure on students and state workers to vote at their universities and workplaces, to displaying election materials for United Russia inside polling stations.

Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion who is now a leader of the Other Russia opposition coalition, called the poll a “rape of democracy”.

The poll had been marked by accusations from Mr Putin that opposition parties backed by foreign countries were attempting to meddle in the polls to defeat United Russia and return the country to the “oligarchy” of the 1990s.