As of: 09/20/2021 5:40 a.m.
President Putin’s Kremlin United Russia party has arguably become – once again – the strongest force in the parliamentary elections. However, this time she has to accept losses. The vote was overshadowed by allegations of manipulation.
The ruling party United Russia has a clear lead in the elections to the Russian parliament. After counting half of the votes, it comes to 46.1 percent, followed by the communists, who can improve significantly with 21.4 percent and are again the second strongest force. The LDPR is 8 percent, the Just Russia 7.6 percent. The new party Nowije Ljudi, in German “New People”, may also move into parliament if it does not fall below the five percent threshold – it is currently 5.9 percent.
With the closure of the polling stations in western Kaliningrad, the three-day election to the Russian parliament came to an end in the evening. The head of the electoral commission, Ella Pamfilova, addressed the public immediately afterwards: “The elections in the Russian Federation are over. In our big country that we all love very much, that we appreciate very much. And we want everything to be well in ours Country is. “
United Russia celebrates
That everything went well in these elections – that was mainly thought by the supporters of United Russia. With the announcement of the first partial results after 20 percent of the votes counted, the Kremlin party in Moscow celebrated a great deal of jubilation. They celebrated Russia and its President Vladimir Putin.
General Secretary Andrei Turtschak spoke to his party friends of a well-deserved victory in which everything turned out rightly: “Dear friends, I can congratulate you on an honest and clean victory! I have just spoken to our party chairman, Mr Medvedev. He has asked me to thank everyone, everyone who contributed to this result that we achieved together. “
Numerous reports of tampering
On the other hand, election observers from the Golos organization report massive violations. Complaints were mainly about unsealed urns into which packs of pre-filled ballot papers were stuffed, multiple votes or government officials who were forced to vote.
The co-chairman of Golos, Roman Udot, summed up in the evening: “The citizens call us and report violations. In total we have over 4000 such reports, which we have classified as violations or criminal offenses.” And the opposition around Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who was excluded from the election, speaks of a major electoral fraud. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch wrote on Twitter that it was impossible to come to terms with it.
Complaints about manipulation overshadow parliamentary elections in Russia
Jo Angerer, ARD Moscow, daily topics 10:45 p.m., 19.9.2021
Despite clear gains, the Communist Party also senses that its share of the vote has been corrected downwards through manipulation. The communists are likely to have benefited from the current discontent, according to observers. Falling real incomes and massive price increases are troubling many Russians.
The call from the Navalnys camp to vote in protest for the communists is likely to have given the party further gains. In an initial reaction to the closing of the polling stations, party leader Gennady Zyuganov said: “This time we have received the support we have never had since 1996. We now have to fight for our votes, then we can double and triple our result.”
In the evening, the news that the results of the online voting from Moscow could not be presented as announced, aroused particular suspicion. On Twitter, many responded with ridicule and scorn – one user wrote: “Wherever United Russia hasn’t made it, online voting helps.”
Kremlin party strongest force in Duma election – communists gain significantly
Stephan Laack, ARD Moscow, September 20, 2021 6:00 a.m.