Putin's party leads as polls close in Russian parliamentary election

By Ali Cura

MOSCOW (AA) - Polls closed on Sunday after Russians voted in a three-day parliamentary election.

The voting, which was expanded to three days as part of coronavirus measures, ended as of 20.00 p.m. local time (1700 GMT).

With 14 parties competing for 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the parliament, only the MPs that pass the 5% threshold will win a seat.

Citing data from the Central Election Commission, Russia's TASS news agency said at least five parties passed the 5% threshold.

According to the Insomar exit poll, President Vladimir Putin's party United Russia secured 45.2% of the votes, the Communist Party 21%, the Liberal Democrat Party 8.6 %, and Fair Russia 7.9 % to pass the election threshold.

Following the voting, Russia's Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova announced over 45% election turnout across the country.

She said the ballot boxes were monitored via video surveillance and 99.98% efficiency was obtained from the system.

She also stated that as of 17.30 local time (1430 GMT), 8,539 ballots were deemed invalid due to technical defects in 54 ballot boxes.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that 38,000 Russian citizens cast their ballots at diplomatic missions in 54 countries.

Elections in 12 federal regions, including the republics of Chechnya, Dagestan, Mordovia, and Tuva, for heads and governors, parliamentary polls in 39 regions, by-elections in 19 regions, parliamentary elections in the administrative centers of 11 regions, and local elections in five provinces also wrapped up.