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Putin’s Party Keeps Parliament Supermajority in Controversial Election – Final Results

A meeting of the Russian Central Election Commission to discuss the official results of the 2021 Russian parliamentary election. Vladimir Gerdo / TASS

The ruling, pro-Putin United Russia party kept its supermajority in the lower house of parliament despite critics claiming mass fraud and tampering during the three-day election, according to final results announced by election officials Friday.

Russia’s opposition has raised strong doubts over the results’ legitimacy after remote voting showed United Russia candidates taking every single-mandate district in Moscow despite several candidates falling behind by large margins in in-person voting. United Russia also dominated challengers in party-list voting, winning just shy of a 50% majority. Election officials deny mass fraud and said an audit of e-voting in Moscow revealed no problems.

The Sept. 17-19 elections followed an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition, starting with the August 2020 poisoning and January 2021 imprisonment of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny; the pressure, disqualification and imprisonment of his allies and other opposition candidates; and the blacklisting of election observers and changes to election laws in the run-up to the vote. 

Here’s a full list of the parties that will legislate for the next five years in the 450-seat State Duma:

United Russia: 324 (-19 seats compared to previous elections in 2016)

Communist Party: 57 (+15 seats)

Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR): 21 (-18 seats)

A Just Russia — For Truth: 27 (+4 seats)

New People: 13 (New party, not represented in 2016)

Civic Platform: 1 (Unchanged)

Rodina: 1 (Unchanged)

Party of Growth: 1 (+1)

Independent: 5 (+4)

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