Brussels – What are known in Russia as “parliamentary elections” went exactly as the country’s leader had intended: Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, emerged victorious, securing 57.83 per cent of the vote, thereby securing 355 of the 450 seats in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament. In the previous parliamentary term, the party was represented by 310 MPs. The Communist Party came second, with 13.89 per cent of the vote, followed by the ultra-nationalists of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, with 9.29 per cent.
The result comes as no surprise: the outcome was a foregone conclusion. On Friday (18 September), a spokesperson for the European Commission had argued that the way the elections were conducted “highlights the continuing and growing erosion of democracy in Russia.” The Platform for dialogue with the Russian Democratic Forces of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) had also called the elections “a farce”.
The main focus of criticism following the election has been the conduct of the vote in the Ukrainian territories temporarily occupied by Russia: the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, has condemned “unequivocally the illegal organisation of the so-called ‘elections’ by the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.”
The EU, Kallas reiterated, “does not and will never recognise” either the holding of these so-called “elections” in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or their results. Sanctions will be imposed, she added, “on those involved in organising these sham elections or standing as candidates in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine”, as well as on those deemed responsible for undermining the possibility of free and fair elections within Russia.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
