However United Russia will still have more than two thirds of the seats in the 450 lower house of parliament giving them the uncontested power of pushing through legislation without support from the other parties. Most important, United Russia has been and will be slavishly obedient to Vladimir Putin’s political agenda, even though he does not officially belong to the party.
Once again, Putin’s most strident critics were barred from running and monitors allege numerous cases of ballot stuffing and forced voting. For the first time since 1993, election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were shut out from observing the elections.
But the independent vote monitoring group Golos, which the Russian government has classified as “a foreign agent” tracked over 4,500 election violations. Golos claimed to have received numerous reports from individuals who were being forced by employers to vote as well as allegations of electoral fraud.
The State Duma has without hesitation approved any bill, budget or political item that Putin has proposed. Western governments, international observers and independent Russian observers have all maintained that the parliamentary vote has been rigged from the start. Putin accordingly distanced himself from any campaigns and avoided any show of support for favourites.
Opposition candidates were barred. Aleksey Navalny supporters and independents throughout Russia were subject to intimidation, arrest and smear campaigns.
(Read more: Estonian Life No. 38 2021 paber- and PDF/digi)
Laas Leivat, Toronto
