In the election for thelower house of the parliament, on Sunday, the ruling United Russia party has won a decisive victory and the final results showed that it was better than predicted in the polls. The party secured close to 55 percent of all votes. This win would give the party 76 percent of all the 450 seats in the lower house of the parliament, much higher than the 53 percent it currently holds. This victory would extend Vladimir Putin’s 17 years in power. He was Prime Minister from 1999 to 2000, and then was president from 2000 to 2008 and again Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012. He is currently serving as the President of the Russian Federation since 2012. Despite the political propaganda and some criticism, Mr. Putin enjoys a very high approval rating within Russia and is widely considered to be the most powerful and influential person in global politics.
The other parties like the Communist party, the nationalist Liberal Democrats and the centre-left A Just Russia have been Kremlin over the past five years to shape Russian policies; however, with 76 percent of the seats, the United Russia can now change the constitution without their support.
However, the election was allegedly marred by irregularities and the turnout was arecord low.