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| Russia votes in election unlikely to loosen Putin's grip on power | Russia votes in election unlikely to loosen Putin's grip on power |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Parliamentary elections are under way in Russia, with voting taking place across the vast country from the Pacific Ocean in the far east to Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea. | Parliamentary elections are under way in Russia, with voting taking place across the vast country from the Pacific Ocean in the far east to Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea. |
| The results are not expected to lead to any dramatic changes, with the established political parties all broadly supportive of the country’s president, Vladimir Putin. | The results are not expected to lead to any dramatic changes, with the established political parties all broadly supportive of the country’s president, Vladimir Putin. |
| It is the first parliamentary vote since 2011, when accusations of vote rigging led tens of thousands of Russians to take to the streets in a series of protests that lasted until Putin’s inauguration for a new term in May 2012. | It is the first parliamentary vote since 2011, when accusations of vote rigging led tens of thousands of Russians to take to the streets in a series of protests that lasted until Putin’s inauguration for a new term in May 2012. |
| To qualify for entry into the Duma, parties need to win 5% of the vote nationwide. There are currently four parties in the Duma, the dominant force being United Russia, the party backed by Putin and to which most regional leaders belong. | To qualify for entry into the Duma, parties need to win 5% of the vote nationwide. There are currently four parties in the Duma, the dominant force being United Russia, the party backed by Putin and to which most regional leaders belong. |
| Opposition politicians from Parnas, the party led by Boris Nemtsov until his assassination in Moscow last year, are standing in a number of regions with candidates backed by the exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky also on the ticket. | Opposition politicians from Parnas, the party led by Boris Nemtsov until his assassination in Moscow last year, are standing in a number of regions with candidates backed by the exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky also on the ticket. |
| There have already been allegations of foul play, and opposition parties point out that the playing field is uneven by definition, given the Kremlin’s tight control over much of the media. The opposition has also been plagued by infighting and divisions over strategy, fragmenting a small slice of the vote further still. | |
| Few are expecting major protests again, however, whatever the results. A crackdown on the protest movement that led to trials and jail time for some of those involved has left many feeling that political activism will not change anything. Putin has become more popular since the annexation of Crimea, where people voted in their first parliamentary elections as part of Russia. Ukraine strongly condemned the vote. | |
| New presidential elections in Russia are due in early 2018. If, as expected, Putin stands and wins, by the end of his next six-year term he will have effectively ruled Russia for 24 years. | |
| The prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, called on voters to back United Russia on Friday, saying the country was “under pressure from outside forces” and needed to come together. | |
| The party struggles to gain support among many Russians, who see it as an organisation of corrupt local bureaucrats, but it wins votes by virtue of Putin’s backing and through mobilising public service workers to cast their ballots. |