Ruling pro Putin party set to win Russia wartime election

Ruling pro Putin party set to win Russia wartime election.

The United Russia party is easily on track to win Sunday’s tightly controlled Russian parliamentary elections, with President Vladimir Putin once again set to cement his dominance over domestic politics.

Final election results will not be tallied before September 25, but according to initial data from the Central Election Commission the United Russia party – which backs Putin – is in the lead with 57.8% of votes and 95% of the ballots processed.

The vote came as Kyiv launching one of its largest attacks against Moscow overnight into Sunday, the final day of the three-day election. More than 1,900 drones were launched, killing at least three people and damaging a major oil refinery.

Although the result of the election was not in doubt, voter participation could be seen as a test of support for the war in Ukraine.

The commission said that overall turnout across Russia topped 59%, a new record high for parliamentary election.

If confirmed, the result will get United Russia 355 of the 450 seats in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. That is the highest number of seats the party has ever secured and 31 more than it got in the last election in 2021 – before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – United Russia took 324

Putin is not a member of the party, although he served as its leader between 2008 and 2012.