According to the authorities' preliminary results, United Russia received almost 58 percent of the vote.
The party is actually said to have received around 34 percent, according to a calculation made by the independent Novaya Gazeta. This is more in line with the few and difficult-to-interpret opinion polls that have been conducted.
United Russia looks set to win 355 of the 450 seats in the State Duma, largely because half of the seats are elected in single-member constituencies. That's 31 more than before and almost 80 percent of the seats in the Duma, a clear supermajority.
The electoral system is designed by and for the president's party. All real opposition has been eliminated through legal or violent means.
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