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Russian polls: Pro-Putin bloc likely to gain greater sway
MOSCOW: The ruling United Russia party is expected to win even greater dominance over Russia’s lower house in a parliamentary election on Sunday, showing that support
MOSCOW: The ruling United Russia party is expected to win even greater dominance over Russia’s lower house in a parliamentary election on Sunday, showing that support for President Vladimir Putin is holding up despite sanctions and a deep economic slowdown.
The election for the Duma, or lower house, is being seen as a dry run for Putin’s expected presidential campaign in 2018.
It is also a test of how well the Kremlin can oversee trouble-free elections. It will be the first parliamentary vote since 2011, when allegations of ballot-rigging sparked big protests against Putin in the capital.
Voting got under way at 2000 GMT on Saturday on the Chukotka Peninsula opposite Alaska and will wrap up in Kaliningrad, Russia’s most westerly point, where people can cast their vote until 1800 GMT on Sunday.
“Of course I voted for United Russia,” a middle-aged man in the town of Velikiye Luki in western Russia, who declined to give his name, told Reuters. “We don’t need other parties here. At least they (United Russia) have done their stealing.” United Russia, led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin loyalist, has 238 of 450 Duma seats, dominates the more than 80 regional parliaments, and is routinely depicted in a favourable light by state television, where most Russians get their news.
Putin does not belong to any party.
