First results confirm big election lead for Putin-backed United Russia

First results confirm big election lead for Putin-backed United Russia:



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The governing United Russia party looks set to consolidate its dominance over Russia’s lower house after a parliamentary election on Sunday.

With a quarter of the ballots counted, the party backed by President Putin has a commanding lead, with over 50 percent of the vote.

The results so far give United Russia an even more substantial margin than two exit polls had suggested. Published around an hour after the end of voting, they gave the party just under 50 percent of the vote. However, the signs are that turnout is much lower than in the last election five years ago, suggesting a certain amount of voter apathy, with many people struggling to get by amid a poorly performing economy.

The early results put the nationalist Liberal Democrats (LPDR) in second place, just ahead of the Communists who slip into third. Both scored under 20 percent of the vote. In fourth place is Fair Russia with well under 10 percent of the vote.