Pro-Putin party set to secure win amid fierce crackdowns

MOSCOW: Russians voted on Sunday in the final stretch of a three-day parliamentary election that the ruling party is expected to win emphatically after a crackdown that crushed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s movement and barred opponents from the ballot.

The win by the ruling United Russia Party could be used by the Kremlin as proof of support for Vladimir Putin, who has been in power as either president or prime minister since 1999.

Allies of Navalny, who is serving a jail sentence for parole violations he denies, are encouraging tactical voting against United Russia, that amounts to supporting the candidate most likely to defeat the ruling party in a given electoral district.

An independent election watchdog, Golos, said it has recorded many violations during the three-day vote, including threats against observers and ballot stuffing, blatant examples of which circulated on social media, with some individuals caught on camera depositing bundles of voting slips in urns.

The Central Election Commission said it had recorded cases of ballet stuffing in six regions and that the results from those polling stations would be voided. The commission reported total voter turnout at 40.5% as of 3pm Moscow time on Sunday.

United Russia is facing a ratings slump due to public malaise over poor living standards, pollsters say, but it remains more popular than its closest rivals, the Communist Party and the nationalist LDPR party.

United Russia holds nearly three quarters of the State Duma’s 450 seats. That dominance last year helped the Kremlin pass constitutional reforms that allow Putin to run for two more terms as president after 2024, potentially staying in power until 2036. “If United Russia manages [to win], our country can expect another five years of poverty, five years of repression, and five lost years,” ran a message to supporters on Navalny’s blog.