Russia's Unfair Election: Putin's Party Maintains Control

Last Sunday, Russia outlined the shape of its parliament for the next four years after people across the country cast their ballots in what the West called a shameful and unfair parliamentary election.

The United Russia party, backed by President Vladimir Putin, had opted for at least a 60 per cent victory; it got a landslide of 64.1per cent with a record voter turnout of 63 per cent. Securing 315 of 450 seats in the State Duma – enough to change the constitution – United Russia will be sharing the parliament with only three other parties, none of which pose a serious opposition threat.

The closest competitor, the Communist Party, won 12 per cent of the vote and 54 seats, while the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky received 8.2 per cent. A pro-Kremlin Fair Russia was left with the remaining 7.8 per cent.

However, the international community has questioned the legitimacy of the results, claiming the election was rigged. The Council of Europe and the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the vote failed to respect international norms.

The tiny number of foreign observers that were able to make it to the election despite visa delays imposed by the Kremlin recorded numerous violations, starting from the very first hours of the vote. The observers said there were occasions when several people at a time went into the same voting booth and there were voters who cast multiple ballots.

As stated on the opposition group The Other Russia’s website, “One call to a hot line for electoral fraud revealed that a high-ranking employee of the Regional Electoral Commission of the city of Krasnoyarsk arrived at the polling station, took two ballots and walked into the voting booth.