Moscow – The United Russia party’s victory in the September 18 elections has shown an overwhelming confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
However, Peskov declined to answer a question how these results will influence Putin’s decision to once again run in the presidential election of 2018.
"I cannot answer this question. But it is evident, that the overwhelming majority of the voters spoke de facto in support of the president. Putin has once again received a massive vote of confidence from the country’s people,” Peskov added.
Elections to the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, were held on September 18 in a split system: 225 members of parliament were elected by party tickets, while the other 225 were elected in one-seat constituencies. The voter turnout at the State Duma elections reached 47.18%.
The ruling United Russia party won the elections to the State Duma on party lists with 54.28% of the votes after 93.06% of ballots counted, Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova said on Monday.
The Communist Party comes second with 13.45% of the votes, and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) is in the third place with 13.24% of the votes. A Just Russian party gained 6.17% of the votes. - Intar-Tass-SAnews.gov.za
