The first results give the majority in United Russia and reflect a rise of the Communist Party in elections marked by repression and apathy

President Vladimir Putin gives his support, won 49.8% of the vote in the parliamentary elections this weekend, marked by apathy, repression of the opposition and full of allegations of irregularities. The result, similar to urn-foot polls, is a very comfortable victory for United Russia, which nevertheless, despite the lack of options and the push of the authorities, loses some support in some regions and compared to the legislative passes, in 2016, when it had 54%. The data confirm a rise of the Communist Party, the second most voted force, from 13% to 19%, according to data circulated by the Electoral Commission.

With the social discontent booming over the economic situation and the pandemic, Putin, 68 years old, needs a legislative scene that unreservedly supports his policies and guarantees him stability until he finishes his term of office in 2024 and decides whether to run the Kremlin again, perpetuating himself in power as the reformed constitution allows. The results of this weekend’s elections consolidate the power of the Russian leader, which strengthens his control.

In one more step in its authoritarian maneuvers, the Kremlin banned the digital tactical voting application devised by Navalny’s team, ‘intelligent vote’, recommending those candidates with more options to defeat Russia together, and has managed to get Google, Apple and other Internet giants to block them. ‘If the United Russia manages (to win), our country can expect five years of poverty, five years of repression, five years lost’ says Navalny’s team on its blog. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has justified repressive measures as necessary to thwart ‘foreign interference’ in elections.

The parliamentary elections in which Russian citizens were able to vote for three days have given little real choice to the voters. With the latent social discontent over the loss of living standards, pandemic, corruption and loss of infrastructure quality, the Kremlin has not wanted to take risks and has blocked almost all known opposition figures in the electoral contest ‘ The manoeuvres have even reached the Russian Communist Party, the first party of the so-called ‘systemic opposition’, loyal to the Kremlin. One of his leading figures, the agricultural businessman and presidential candidate in 2018, P.vel Grudinin, was also vetoed for running.