Russians Used to Love Putin. Now? Meh.
Who was the opposition, again?
Photographer: Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin's loyalists, the United Russia party, gained a massive, record majority in Sunday's parliamentary election -- but Russians have also shown that the high popularity ratings of United Russia and, by extension, Putin and his government are essentially fake: The turnout was lower than ever in the history of Russian federal elections.
According to preliminary results, United Russia has won 344 seats in the 450-strong State Duma, or lower house of parliament, a big improvement on the 238 it had gained at the previous election, in 2011. At the same time, it lost north of 5 million votes in absolute numbers. According to the Central Election Commission, the turnout reached 47.8 percent compared with 60.2 percent at the last election. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, which officially account for 11.8 percent of the total population, the turnout was lower still -- less than 30 percent.