In unfair elections, Putin party wins in Russia parliament vote

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday hailed a vote for "stability" after his ruling party won a record number of seats at parliamentary polls amid a low turnout.

The Kremlin’s United Russia scooped three quarters of the seats in the 450-member State Duma after bolstering its tally to over 54 percent at a nationwide vote Sunday, securing a majority despite the longest economic crisis of Putin’s 16-year rule. 

But the vote was marred by rigging and lowest turnout for a parliamentary election in Russia’s post-Soviet history, suggesting many are increasingly turned off by the Kremlin’s total control over public discourse and posing potential questions over legitimacy. 

"For United Russia this was a good result," Putin told his government on Monday. 

"Given the current difficulties, the large amount of uncertainty and risks, people undoubtedly chose stability."

Russian electoral officials said 47.8 of voters cast their ballots during the parliamentary elections

Sunday’s election followed a tumultuous few years that have seen Russia seize the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine, sparking its worst standoff with the West since the Cold War, and the start of a military campaign in Syria.

Pro-Putin parties were always expected to cruise to victory given the Kremlin’s almost complete dominance of the media -- but the scale of United Russia’s majority took some observers by surprise.

’Not free and fair’ 

Looming large over this election was the spectre of mass protests over vote-rigging following the last legislative polls in 2011, which grew into the biggest challenge to Putin since he took charge in 2000.

The Kremlin was desperate to avoid a repeat this time round and has cracked down on the right to protest while making a show of stamping out electoral fraud. 

Human rights advocate Ella Pamfilova took over from the previous scandal-tainted election chief but the opposition accused her of ignoring violations even when they were caught on camera.

The poll also caused a diplomatic spat with Ukraine as residents on the Crimea peninsula elected candidates to Russia’s parliament for the first time since Moscow annexed the region in 2014. 

In the North Caucasus region of Chechnya, strongman Ramzan Kadyrov claimed some 98 percent in the first vote on his decade-long rule after rights groups complained criticism was ruthlessly silenced during his campaign.