United Russia party leads in election

According to the results of counting 52.77% of the votes as of 1:30 a.m. Moscow time, the ruling United Russia party is currently leading in the Russian State Duma (Lower House) election that took place yesterday (December 4).

Thus, the four parties that will have seats in the new State Duma are: United Russia (ER) with 49.68% of the votes, Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF): 19.70%, Just Russia (SR): 12.91%, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR): 12.18%.

Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin speak
at the United Russia Party Center (AP Photo)

The remaining three parties, Yabloko, the Russian Patriots (PR) and the Right-wing Career (PD), will not have seats in the new State Duma. It is unlikely that the final results of the Russian State Duma elections will change much.

Compared with the 2007 State Duma election results: United Russia Party received 64.3% of the votes, Communist Party of the Russian Federation: 11.57%, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia: 8.14%, SP: 7.74%, Yabloko: 1.59%, Right-wing Career Party: 0.96%, Russian Patriots Party: 0.89%, the State Duma election results this year have changed a lot with the strong rise of other parties, while United Russia Party has significantly declined.

According to the new election law, parties that get 6-7% of the vote will get 2 seats, and parties that get 5-6% of the vote will get 1 seat in the 6th State Duma. Parties that pass the minimum threshold of 7% will receive seats proportional to the number of votes received.

Thus, the United Russia party can receive 218 seats in the 6th State Duma (compared to 315/450 seats in the 5th State Duma), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - 89 seats, the Just Russia party - 58 seats and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia - 51 seats. The remaining 34 seats will be divided among the parties proportionally, so the ER still has the majority of seats (225) but cannot create a majority in the House of Representatives. Therefore, to create a constitutional majority, the United Russia party must consider forming an alliance with other parties.

Voter turnout as of 6 p.m. Moscow time was 50.4 percent (in the 2007 Duma elections it was 63.78 percent). Chairman of the Russian Central Election Commission Churov declared the Russian State Duma elections a success.

According to VOV news