Published:December 4, 2007
News from New York Times
MOSCOW, Dec. 3 — President Vladimir V. Putin declared Monday that his party’s imposing victory in parliamentary elections was a “sign of trust” that had conferred new legitimacy on the government. But European monitors and opposition parties harshly criticized the balloting, saying it had been neither free nor fair.
The final tally from the vote on Sunday showed that Mr. Putin’s party, United Russia, had received 64.1 percent, giving it roughly 315 seats in the 450-seat Duma, or lower house of Parliament, which would be enough votes to amend the Constitution. Far behind was the Communist Party, with 11.6 percent, or 57 seats. Two other parties allied with Mr. Putin — the Liberal Democrats and Just Russia — are also to receive seats.
Mr. Putin, who repeatedly used the Kremlin’s authority to assist United Russia, said the election signified that the nation was maturing as a democracy. He noted that the four parties that were to enter Parliament received 90 percent of the vote.
“Russians will never allow for the development of the country along a destructive path, the way it happened in some countries in the post-Soviet space,” Mr. Putin said. “And this sense of responsibility of citizens for their own country is, in my view, the most important index of the fact that our country is strengthening not only economically, not only socially, but also in terms of its domestic politics.”
The end of the parliamentary campaign is expected to intensify discussion in Russia about who will be the next president. United Russia is holding a meeting in two weeks at which Mr. Putin might designate a candidate to run in the presidential election in March. Whoever he names will be the presumptive front-runner.
Mr. Putin cannot run again because of constitutional term limits, though United Russia’s strong performance on Sunday renewed speculation that he might ask Parliament to amend the Constitution.
If he does not, what he will do after March remains a mystery. He has said he wants to continue wielding influence over the nation, but how he would do that — and what his relationship would be with the next president — was unclear.
