Moscow In the election of a new State Duma, the Kremlin Party, United Russia, celebrated its victory in Moscow after the first votes were counted. “Rossija, Rossija!” Shouted people on the street in the Russian capital with Kremlin party flags despite the rain. “We are Putin’s team,” shouted activists loyal to the Kremlin. Party officials said at a performance that Putin’s course would be continued. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that the outcome of the election was a “feast day”.
After counting over 20 percent of the ballot papers, the Kremlin Party came in at 42.9 percent, according to the election commission. The communists received 23 percent. The right-wing populist LDPR party of the ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky landed at 8.8 percent and the Just Russia party at 7.1 percent.
The parties are all loyal to the system and have already been represented in the Duma. The fifth party was the new force Nowyje Ljudi – in German: New People – hope to jump over the five percent hurdle. According to the first results, it came to 6.87 percent.
The first results were roughly in line with the forecasts published after the polling stations were closed. According to the Central Election Commission, the Kremlin party can again hope for an absolute majority of the votes, namely 240 of the 450 seats. For Putin, going to the polls was an important test of mood. The party that is his power base spoke of a “victory”. She wanted to defend her absolute majority.
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Putin, who supported the party, did not come to the election headquarters in Moscow because he is in self-isolation after contact with dozens of people infected with corona. He was fine, it was said. Party leader Dmitry Medvedev did not appear in public either. According to the party, he was excused for having a “heavy cough”.
The opposition around the imprisoned government critic Alexej Navalny accused the Kremlin United Russia party of electoral fraud. She feels reminded of the 2011 vote, when “the election was stolen from us,” wrote Nawalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch on Sunday evening on Twitter. “It is impossible to come to terms with it.” The Navalny confidante Leonid Volkov said: “These elections are dirtier than those of 2011 – much dirtier.”
Volkov also criticized the fact that in the capital Moscow, even several hours after the polling stations had closed, the results of the online voting had not yet been published – the election commission had published the results for other regions. “Obviously they are waiting to be able to adjust the numbers,” said the Navalny team. The counting of the ballot papers continued on Monday night. Accordingly, the Kremlin party led.
110 million eligible voters
On Sunday, the third and last day of the parliamentary elections started, accompanied by complaints about massive violations. A total of 110 million people were called upon to elect the 450 members of the new State Duma in the largest country on earth. 14 parties stood for election. In addition to the National Assembly, numerous regional and city parliaments were also elected. In the total of more than 4,400 elections, more than 31,000 new mandates have been awarded.
There was little participation in the election. By Sunday, 9.00 a.m. Central European Time (CEST), 35.7 percent of those eligible to vote had cast their vote, according to the Central Election Commission. Voting has been possible since Friday, and the polling stations closed at 8 p.m. CEST.
According to official figures, voter turnout was highest in the Russian republic of Chechnya in the North Caucasus, at 76.15 percent. Human rights activists in particular see serious violations in elections again and again.
In contrast, in St. Petersburg, Putin’s hometown, the turnout was a good 20 percent. In the capital, Moscow, it was given at more than 36 percent, a little more than in the 2016 parliamentary election.
Numerous allegations of manipulation
The election has been overshadowed by allegations of manipulation since it began on Friday. Independent observers from the Golos organization have listed thousands of violations across the country – mostly with photo and video recordings.
In many cases, ballot boxes were crammed full of pre-filled voting slips in packs. There were also reports of compulsory voting, for example among government employees, as well as multiple votes.
The central election commission announced that it would investigate the complaints. More than 7,000 ballots had been canceled by Sunday morning, it said. Election supervisor Ella Pamfilowa said eight cases have been confirmed so far in which packs of ballot papers have been stuffed into the urns.
The communists, too, who, in view of the widespread dissatisfaction with the Kremlin’s policies, are hoping for an increase in votes, complained of violations in many cases. They announced protests.
The last day of the parliamentary elections in Russia starts
Independent observers and members of the opposition fear that the Kremlin party will secure a new victory with massive fraud. The opposition around the imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexej Navalny, which was excluded from the election, called for a protest vote against United Russia.
A few hours before the end of the election, Nawalny’s supporters again called for a tactical vote. Accordingly, the opponents of President Vladimir Putin are advised to vote in the respective constituencies to the candidate who has the best chance of beating the representative of Putin’s party.
“Today is an important day,” said spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch. “United Russia wants to steal these elections from us and then rob us for another five years.” Therefore, the Russians should vote for candidates from other parties.
According to the authorities, Navalny, who was imprisoned in a penal camp in Russia, was not allowed to vote. According to Russian law, legally convicted persons are excluded from elections, said the deputy head of the penal system, Valery Boyarinev, according to the Interfax agency on Sunday
Digital corporations don’t play along
To the annoyance of the Kremlin opponents, the Internet giants Google, Youtube, Apple and the news channel Telegram had deleted the Navalny team’s recommendations for “smart voting”. Specific names were given for which voters should vote. The content banned by the authorities was still available on Twitter.
This time observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were not represented because they did not agree with the conditions and the small number of authorized experts. In this huge empire, election observation is particularly labor-intensive. Russia had justified the restrictions for Western observers with the corona pandemic.
Because of the danger posed by the virus, the vote was scheduled for three days so that voters can keep social distance and hygiene rules. Critics accuse the authorities of making manipulation easier because ballot boxes can hardly be checked at night, for example.
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