Pro-Kremlin Party Loses 19 Seats in Election, Retains Majority to Change Constitution

The ruling pro-Kremlin party lost 19 seats in Russia's parliamentary election that concluded Sunday, though it will still hold the overwhelming bulk of State Duma positions, Russia's Central Election Commission said Tuesday. United Russia will hold 324 of the 450 seats in the parliament, allowing members to retain the State Duma majority that allows them to change the nation's constitution, the Associated Press reported.

Keeping the parliamentary majority was seen as critical for Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the next presidential election in 2024. The newly-chosen Duma will still be in office when Putin will face the decision of running for reelection or looking for other means of staying in power, the AP reported. For either route, maintaining a parliament largely made up of pro-Kremlin politicians can be crucial for Putin, analysts and Kremlin critics have said.

The election excluded most opposition politicians from seeking seats and was subject to several reports of violations and voter fraud. United Russia received 49.8 percent of votes for 225 seats apportioned by parties, while the party won 198 of the other 225 seats chosen directly by voters, the AP reported.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below:

Three other parties that usually toe the Kremlin line will take most of the remaining seats, along with the New People party, which was formed last year and is regarded by many as a Kremlin-sponsored project.

Individual candidates from three more parties each won a seat, along with five independents.

The Communist Party, the second-biggest political force in the parliament, will get 57 seats—an improvement from the 42 seats five years ago.

Few opposition candidates were allowed to run this time around after Russian authorities unleashed a sweeping crackdown on Kremlin critics.

The government declared organizations linked to imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny as extremist, and a new law barred anyone associated with them from seeking public office. Navalny is serving a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for violating parole from a previous conviction he has said is politically motivated.

Other prominent opposition politicians faced prosecution or were forced to leave Russia under pressure from authorities.

Navalny's team hoped to undermine United Russia's dominance with its Smart Voting strategy, which endorsed candidates who had the best chance of defeating those backed by the Kremlin. However, authorities undertook a massive effort to suppress the project in recent weeks.

Navalny, other opposition politicians and independent election monitors have denounced the results of the weekend election. Kremlin critics cited polls from earlier this year that showed less than 30 percent of Russians were willing to cast ballots for the ruling party.

Opposition activists and news outlets also pointed to races in 15 single-constituency districts in Moscow, where United Russia's approval ratings have been traditionally lower than elsewhere in the country and protest voting was more widespread.

Candidates endorsed by Smart Voting were winning at least half of those races until the results of online voting—something that was an option in Moscow and several other regions—came in on Monday, when the Kremlin-backed candidates suddenly shot ahead.

"Technically, we're seeing a huge success of Smart Voting," Navalny said in a social media post relayed from prison through his lawyers. "Look at the charts with Moscow results before the fraudulent online voting and after. But to be honest, the overall result can't be called a victory. Our result has been simply stolen."