Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
“United Russia” secured a preordained outcome: ISW on the Kremlin’s targets in the State Duma elections
According to preliminary results of the State Duma elections, “United Russia” is receiving a result higher than five years ago, and is likely to win a constitutional majority.
This appears to be a clear demonstration that the call by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to support the war against Ukraine by voting in the elections has been realized, the agency News noted. After counting 90,43% of protocols, United Russia has 57,86% of votes, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation — 13,84%, LDPR — 8,90%, New People — 7,94%, A Just Russia — 4,95%. In 2021 year United Russia had 49,82%. Preliminary results indicate that the ruling party United Russia has probably secured a constitutional majority.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) note in their report that the Kremlin presents the initial and preordained election results as confirmation of broad support in Russian society for the war against Ukraine, although the leading party United Russia’s metrics presently indicate a “comparatively restrained result.” The head of the Russian Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, stated that full preliminary results will be released on 21 September at 11:00 local time, and final results — 25 September.
At the same time, as experts note, United Russia’s victory significantly trails the result the party would likely want to demonstrate to bolster claims of Russians' unity around United Russia and Putin. This is probably connected to the need to account for public discontent with the consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the election results “will confirm the commitment of Russian political parties and voters to Putin’s foreign policy.” As ISW notes, recently the Kremlin has been making considerable efforts to present United Russia as the main party responsible for implementing the dictator’s policy, and as a party that supposedly won in Ukraine. At the same time, the Kremlin is trying to present these elections as a kind of referendum on the war itself.
Analysts note that it will likely be difficult for the Kremlin to balance acknowledging genuine public dissatisfaction with the war in Ukraine with attempts to portray large political events like the State Duma elections as proof of broad support for military actions.
Numerous sources, including independent Russian election observers, reported widespread violations and manipulation during vote counting in the voting period 18−20 September. It was reported that Russian election authorities engaged in ballot stuffing, detained or removed hundreds of observers from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Yabloko party after its candidates were barred from participating in the elections. There were also reports of threats to dismiss some budget sector workers who did not participate in voting.
In addition, in Novosibirsk people in military uniform stopped voters at polling stations, handed them summonses, or tried to persuade them to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense.
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