Stronger supermajority for Putin’s party

Martin Mederyd Hårdh/TT

 

Published 10.28

 

Vladimir Putin has secured an even clearer mandate to push through his agenda following the State Duma election. Here, he is shown holding a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow last Thursday. Photo: Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik/Kremlin/pool photo via AP/TT

Vladimir Putin is set to govern with even fewer constraints, as his ruling party has been credited with an even larger supermajority in the election for Russia’s State Duma.

According to preliminary official results, United Russia received nearly 58 percent of the vote.

In reality, the party likely secured around 34 percent, according to a calculation by the independent outlet *Novaya Gazeta*. This figure aligns more closely with the few—and difficult-to-interpret—opinion polls that are conducted.

United Russia appears poised to take 355 of the State Duma’s 450 seats, largely because half of the seats are decided in single-mandate constituencies. This represents a gain of 31 seats and gives the party nearly 80 percent of the seats in the Duma—a clear supermajority.

The electoral system was designed by and for the president’s party. All genuine opposition has been eliminated through legal means or violence.