The ruling United Russia party retained a two-thirds majority in the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, following elections that have been criticized as neither free nor fair by Russia’s opposition and the West. United Russia came away with 50% of the vote that took place Sept. 17-19, winning 324 seats in the lower chamber, which is 19 seats less than in the previous Duma elections, but sufficient to pass any bills, including amendments to the constitution. The so-called systemic opposition parties, whose participation in the elections the Kremlin condones, trailed far behind: the Communist Party won 57 seats, while A Just Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia secured 27 and 21 seats, respectively. Other parties collectively won 21 seats.
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