Russia’s new parliament will be overwhelmingly loyal to the Kremlin, after elections marked by a record low turnout threw up few surprises.  With more than 93% of the votes counted on Monday morning, the United Russia party, backed by Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and led by its prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, had won 54% of the vote. The other three parties to clear the 5% barrier required to make it into the Duma are all broadly loyal to the Kremlin line. United Russia will take more than three-quarters of the 450 seats in the Duma.  The communists, and the far-right nationalists of Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s Liberal Democratic party took about 13% of the vote, while the liberal Yabloko party and the opposition Parnas garnered miserly returns. Parnas was the party led by Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister who was shot dead outside the Kremlin last year. Before the elections, many had criticised the liberal opposition for failing to unite on a single ticket.  A new, mixed voting system was introduced for Sunday’s election, in which voters chose both a party and individual candidates, with half the MPs coming from party lists and half from the direct voting. United Russia candidates also dominated the direct voting, meaning that in the end they will control 76% of the seats in the new Duma, giving them the two-thirds majority required to change the constitution. The projected 343 seats for United Russia is an increase of more than 100 from the previous parliament.  In recent years, the Duma has been a pliant body with little real voice, and the two MPs out of 450 who had pursued an independent line have not been re-elected. One, Ilya Ponomarev, is living in exile while the other, Dmitry Gudkov, was beaten by a United Russia candidate in a Moscow district.  Turnout in the election was just 47%, the lowest in the history of modern Russia. In major cities, the turnout was even lower, with just 28% of eligible voters making it to the polls in Moscow.  In Crimea, which was voting in the first parliamentary elections since annexation by Russia in 2014, turnout was also low. Only 40% of Crimeans had cast their ballots with two hours of voting remaining, and the turnout was on course to be lower than the last time Crimeans voted in Ukrainian parliamentary elections. After the widespread euphoria over rejoining Russia two years ago, life has not improved in the way many Crimeans had hoped, which has led to discontent and apathy similar to that in other parts of Russia.  The national average was boosted by some provincial regions, where officials are known to demand local residents, and especially public service workers, come out to vote.  “The situation is tough and difficult but the people still voted for United Russia,” Putin said on Sunday evening. United Russia was described as “the party of crooks and thieves” by the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but although many Russians have disdain for corrupt local leaders, United Russia remains electable due to its association with Putin and a lack of viable alternatives.  There were some violations reported on the day of the vote, including cases where what appeared to be blatant ballot stuffing was captured on camera. However, most election observers noted that the elections were much cleaner than the parliamentary elections five years ago. Then, multiple violations prompted tens of thousands of Muscovites to come out on to the streets for a season of protests that lasted several months and rattled the Kremlin.  While the day of the voting was cleaner and some opposition candidates were allowed on to the ballot, Kremlin critics say the vote is skewed from the outset given the partisan nature of state television and access to resources. However, few expect a new season of protests, after a crackdown in 2012 dissuaded many opposition-minded Russians from dissent.  The next big election in Russia is the presidential vote, scheduled for early 2018. Putin is expected to stand and win another six-year term. By the end of that term, he would have ruled Russia for 24 years.
More than half of voters opt for Putin-backed United Russia, while three other parties to make it to Duma favour Kremlin