Putin's United Russia wins record 355 parliament seats

MOSCOW, Sept 21: President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won a record 355 seats in Russia's 450-seat Duma lower house of parliament, according to preliminary results from the three day election released by electoral chief Ella Pamfilova on Monday.

With almost all votes counted from the poll, in which no parties critical of Putin took part, results showed the presidential party will have a supermajority larger than its previous 2016 record of 343 seats.
It was Russia's first parliamentary election since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022.

The Kremlin tightly controls elections and Moscow has banned criticism of its military campaign in Ukraine.

Pamfilova said turnout was more than 59 percent, thanking Russians for voting despite what she called "psychological pressure" on the country.�" AFP