Russia’s main Kremlin party, United Russia, was dominating the country’s first wartime parliamentary election, according to early returns released Monday from a tightly controlled election virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s policies.
The vote, which is all but certain to cement the Kremlin’s dominance, began Friday for 111 million eligible voters and ended Sunday.
The balloting included residents of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed after the war began, but still doesn’t fully control, as well as those in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, a move Kyiv denounced as illegal and the European Union described as a “blatant violation of international law.”
With some 58% of the precincts counted, United Russia had nearly 58% of the vote for the 225 deputies apportioned by party lists, according to Russia’s Central Election Commission. Another 225 lawmakers will be chosen in single-seat races, and United Russia also was poised to win most of those.
As of late Sunday, the turnout stood at a little under 57%, Russia’s Central Election Commission said.
As the early results came in, voting continued at some embassies and consulates in time zones further west, including in the United States.