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A voter turnout for the State Duma elections in Primorye hit 58 percent on Sunday indicating an increase of citizen’s interest in the political life of Russia as well as their loyalty to pro-Kremlin United Russia party which harvested 56 percent of the votes. In the elections held in 2003 the voter turnout reached 46 percent and the ballots cast for United Russia made only 28 percent.

“The numbers of growth of support for United Russia in Primorye are among the highest in the country,” Primorye Governor Sergei Darkin announced with satisfaction at a press conference on Monday.

According to preliminary results, 4 of the eleven parties running for the State Duma seats passed the 7 percent hurdle in Primorye. Besides United Russia with its secure 56 percent of voters support, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), the Communist Party and A Just Russia made their way to the State Duma in the region. The Liberal Democratic Party collected 13 percent of votes, while the Communist Party and A Just Russia scored 12 and 9.8 percent respectively.

The other seven parties lag behind considerably, Vice Head of the regional election committee Tatyana Vyalova released Monday. According to Vyalova, the elections in Primorye were held in a serene atmosphere, with no political actions and appeals observed. No major law violations were witnessed by Russian and foreign observers, she said.

A few complaints sent to electoral committees reporting on violations detected – among them attempts to bribe the voters – have not affected the overall results, Vyalova said.

Along with the elections to the State Duma, residents of Vladivostok on Sunday also voted for the city’s Duma selecting deputies according to a new system.

The city’s newly elected legislature will have 35 seats, with 17 single-winners and 18 deputies elected by the party lists. Voters each used two separate ballots. One ballot consisted of individual political parties listed with the representatives who would take office based on the election results. The second ballot listed individual candidates competing against each other who may or may not be affiliated with any particular political party.

On the party ballot, the regional faction of the United Russia party received the majority of the vote, gathering about 35 percent . The other parties which earned Duma representation are the Communist Party with 17 percent, the Liberal Democratic Party with 14.5 percent, A Just Russia and the Women of Vladivostok bloc which collected 11 and 8 percent respectively.

Among the individual winners, 11 of 17 candidates belong to United Russia, while four are independent candidates, and two belong to other parties. Thus, according to the preliminary results, United Russia will have at least 17 seats in the city Duma, with the other parties taking the rest.



The election results in Primorye reflected the overall results of Sunday’s national elections, with United Russia gathering 64.1 percent of the vote, a preliminary results statement from the Central Elections Commission announced on Monday.

Along with United Russia, which will receive 315 of the 450 seats in the next Duma, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia will take seats in the Duma. The Communist Party gained 11 percent of the votes, while the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia 8.2 percent and 7.8 percent of the ballot respectively.

Meanwhile, the State Duma elections have been criticized by international observers, who called them undemocratic. “These elections failed to meet many of the commitments and standards that we have in the OSCE and the Council of Europe. That is why we cannot consider them free,” Goran Lennmarker, President of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) was quoted by Ria Novosti as saying at a press conference in Moscow Monday.

In its official statement commenting on observers’ concerns and criticisms, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday that the observers’ assessments “contain statements not supported by actual facts.”