European Forum

Results of the parliamentary elections in Russia

Mon 5 Dec 2011

Yesterday, December 4, Parliamentary elections were held in Russia. The official turnout was 60,2%.

After 96% of the ballots have been counted, the ruling United Russia party gained 49.54% of the votes, which indicates a decrease in support in comparison with the 2007 elections, where the party won 64% of the votes. However, it still means that the party has secured the majority of seats in the parliament.

The preliminary results after 96% of the ballots have been counted:

Duma elections 4 December 2011	Seats in the parliament	% of the votes
United Russia	238	49,54
Communist Party (CPRF)	92	19,16
A Just Russia	64	13,22
Liberal Democratic Party	56	11,66
Yabloko	0	3,3
Patriots of Russia	0	0,97
Right Cause	0	0,59
Total:	450

The other three parties that participated in the elections - Yabloko, the Patriots of Russia, and the Right Cause will not be represented in the parliament, as they did not make the 7% minimum threshold.

The preliminary results mean that the United Russia party loses the constitutional majority that it had after the results of the previous election. The United Russia party already announced that it will negotiate with the opposition to form a coalition in the parliament. Political experts say that a bloc of the left forces may be created following the negotiations between the CPRF and A Just Russia. In case this will happen, such an alliance will create competition to the United Russia party.

Alleged violations
The observers from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) reported ‘frequent procedural violations and instances of apparent manipulation, including serious indications of ballot box stuffing’.

Opposition parties complained of breaches of electoral law and Russia's only independent monitoring group, Golos, was knocked down in a massive cyber attack as were the sites of a half of dozen independent-minded media, including the internet version of the newspaper ‘Kommersant’ and radio ‘Echo of Moscow.

Reactions
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the ‘United Russia party gained respectable results which represent a real balance of political forces’. Prime Minister Putin has accused foreign powers of meddling in election preparations, while Duma members have questioned why a foreign-funded organisation is allowed to monitor Russian elections.

A Just Russia’s party leader, Sergei Mironov, said his party does not recognise the results of the elections in Petersburg and Astrakhan due to alleged mass fraud, falsifications, and the violations of the electoral law at the polling station of these regions.

Vladimir Ryzhkov, Boris Nemtsov and Mikhail Kasyanov, the chairmen of the coalition of the opposition forces Party of People’s Freedom (PARNAS) that was denied registration for the elections, issued a joint statement saying that the elections were not free and fair and the results cannot be considered trustworthy.

Protests against the results broke out on the streets of Moscow and other cities on Sunday night.

The final results of the elections will be made public not later than December 19.
 
Sources: Grani.ru, Euronews, Svoboda News, CIKRF, Radio Free Europe, BBC News, CNN News, Reuters, RT.com, Soratniki-online. Image: Flickr.

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