Exit poll shows Putin’s party dominating Russian elections

MOSCOW — Russia’s ruling party on Sunday looked set to dominate a new parliament made up of Kremlin loyalists after a state exit poll gave it almost 45 percent in nationwide elections.

Russian state pollster VTsIOM put President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia at 44.5%, ahead of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party at 15.3%, the Communists at 14.9% and A Just Russia at 8.1%.

“We can confidently say that United Russia has won,” Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on state television, adding that the party would have an “absolute majority” in the new legislature.

The four leading parties — which made up the last parliament and all back the Kremlin — were the only ones that cleared the 5% bar to claim half the seats up for grabs.

After a change to the election law, the other half of the deputies in the 450-seat legislature are being elected on a constituency basis, with pro-Kremlin parties also expected to dominate.

Russian military cadets cast their ballots at a polling station during a parliamentary elections in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. (AP/Pavel Golovkin)

As of 1815 GMT, United Russia MPs had won in 66 of 76 constituencies, the central election commission said.

Opposition party Yabloko received 3.5% of the vote, missing the threshold required to enter parliament.

The Parnas opposition party, headed by former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, got 1.2% of the vote.

The turnout of the vote three hours before polls closed stood at just under 40%, significantly down from the last parliamentary elections in 2011.