Tuva: Pro-Kremlin Party Scores Landslide Victory in Nine Local Elections
MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti) - United Russia, a Kremlin-backed party, won a convincing victory Sunday in elections to local legislatures in nine regions in what many politicians consider a preparation for next year's parliamentary polls.
The elections took place in the Republics of Karelia, Tuva, and Chuvashia, and in the
The ruling United Russia party claimed earlier this year that it would secure more than 45% of the party-list votes in Sunday's regional elections.
New election rules, adopted on an initiative by President Vladimir Putin, eliminate single-mandate districts, and the preliminary results of Sunday's voting indicate how strong United Russia's hold is on the constitutional majority in the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma
The nationalist Rodina (Motherland) party emerged second with 16.73% of the vote followed by the Communist Party with 13.72%, the source said, adding that the turnout was 40.8%, with 20% being the lowest margin.
The left-leaning Party of Life won 32%, Rodina 7.8%, the Communists 6.2%, the Patriots of Russia 3.35% and the LDPR 3.2%.
Turnout topped 50%, the local election authorities said.
"On Sunday, we re-elected half of the regional Duma - 14 members," the press service said. "The remaining 14 will continue to work for another two years."
Four seats will be held by the Party of Pensioners, and three by the Communists. The Party of Life won two seats, the source added.
The ruling party is followed by the Party of Life with over 16%, the Communists with 13%, the Party of Pensioners with 12%, and the LDPR with 9%.
Turnout was low at 29%, the election commission said.
The Party of Life, led by Speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament Sergei Mironov won 12.5%, the Party of Pensioners 10.5% and the Communists 10%.
The election authorities said the turnout was 35.5%.
The other parties that overcame the 7% barrier were the Communists with 14.68%, Free Russia with 11.03% and the LDPR with 7.03%.
Jewish autonomy
Preliminary results indicate that United Russia won 55.32% of the votes, the election authorities in the autonomy in