United Russia cruises to victory President Putin
President Putin

President Putin

MOSCOW/BERLIN. — Russia’s ruling United Russia party cruised to an easy victory in parliamentary polls, but a low turnout suggested a softening of enthusiasm for the ruling elite 18 months before the next presidential election.President Vladimir Putin’s party had 54,2 percent of the vote after 90 percent of ballots were counted yesterday, data from the election commission showed.The Communist party was in second place with 13,5 percent of the vote, followed by the Liberal Democrats party on 13,3 percent and the Just Russia party on 6,2 percent, according to an incomplete vote count.

The election for the 450-seat State Duma went smoothly for a government desperate to avoid a repeat of mass protests last time round and eager to increase their dominance as the country faces the longest economic crisis of Putin’s rule.

“We can announce already with certainty that the party secured a good result, that it won,” Putin said after the vote.

“The situation is tough and difficult, but the people still voted for United Russia,” he said on state television.

Putin’s aides are likely to use the result as a springboard for his campaign for re-election in 2018, though he has not yet confirmed that he will seek another term.

Alluding to the spluttering economy, which is forecast to shrink this year by at least 0,3 percent, Putin said: “We know that life is hard for people, there are lots of problems, lots of unresolved problems. Nevertheless, we have this result.”

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party has suffered an electoral blow in Berlin state elections, two weeks after her Christian Democrats (CDU) party came third in an eastern state amid a growing backlash against her immigration policy.

The anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD) gained support, capitalising on anger over Merkel’s open-door refugee policy that has allowed one million asylum seekers into Germany, with 70 000 of them coming to Berlin. AfD, which has campaigned heavily on the refugee issue, managed to garner 12,2 percent of the vote and will enter its tenth regional assembly of the country’s 16 states.

CDU’s coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), also lost support, falling to 23,1 percent from 28,3 percent, but remained the biggest party and is likely to ditch Merkel’s party from their current coalition.

The Social Democrats, Merkel’s junior coalition partner at the federal level, may strike deals with Greens and the Left party, each of them getting 16,5 percent of the vote. A backlash against the Chancellor’s immigrant policy has raised questions about whether Merkel, Europe’s most powerful leader, will stand for a fourth term next year.

“There is no question, we didn’t get a good result in Berlin today,” said Michael Grosse-Broemer, a senior CDU politician.

However, he blamed his party’s historic losses in Berlin primarily on local issues.

“I think it is dangerous to transfer the Berlin result to the federal level,” he told broadcaster ZDF.

The election in the chronically indebted city-state of 3.5 million people was dominated by many local issues including poor public services, crumbling schools, late trains and a housing shortage, as well as how to cope with the migrant influx. — Agencies.

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