Few surprises in Duma election

On September 17–19, Russian voters went to the polls to select their next set of lower-house Duma deputies. Due to the restrictions keeping opposition candidates off the ballot, the campaigning leading up to the vote was fairly half-hearted. In the end, the ruling United Russia party took 324 Duma seats (down slightly from 343 seats in the previous Duma). The Communists took 57 seats (up from 42). For Truth, formerly A Just Russia, won 27 seats (up from 23). The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) took just 21 seats, down from 39. The just-formed New People party won 13 seats. Voter turnout was low for a Duma election, 52 % of eligible voters.

While the new Duma has yet to be seated, the election results suggest there will be little changes. President Vladimir Putin announced his support for current Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin to continue in that post. Ballots in many Russian regions included choices for regional governor, regional duma representatives and local government offices. Chechnya governor Ramzan Kadyrov, for example, romped to re-election victory with 99.7 % of the vote.