Putin’s party wins in Russian Election read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/903-putin-s-party-wins-in-russian-election

The ruling United Russia party, founded by Putin almost 16 years ago after he first became president, was on track to win 343 seats or 76 percent of 450 available seats in Russia's Duma, the lower house of parliament, the Central Election Commission said, after 93 percent of ballots had been counted.

Vladimir Putin's political allies won a victory in a parliamentary election in Russia, near final results showed on Monday, paving the way for Putin to run for a fourth term as president in 18 months if, as expected, he chooses to do so.

Putin, speaking to United Russia campaign staff a few minutes after polling stations closed on Sunday night, said the win showed voters still trusted the leadership despite an economic slowdown made worse by Western sanctions over Ukraine.

"We can say with certainty that the party has achieved a very good result; it's won," Putin said at the United Russia headquarters, where he arrived together with his ally, Dmitry Medvedev, who is prime minister and the party's leader.

According to the near complete official vote count, the Communists were on track to come second with 42 seats, the populist LDPR party third with 41, and the left-of-centre Just Russia party fourth with 21 seats.

 

All three of those parties tend to vote with United Russia on crunch issues in parliament and avoid direct criticism of Putin.

Sergei Neverov, secretary of United Russia's General Council, hailed the result on Monday as an endorsement of Putin and his policies.

Election officials said on Monday that turnout was nearly 48 percent, substantially lower than the 60 percent turnout at the last parliamentary election.

There was some evidence of voter apathy during the day on Sunday as people went to polling stations across Russia's 11 times zones, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea.