MOSCOW, Sept 16 (KUNA) - Russians are heading to polling stations tomorrow Friday to take part in the Parliamentary election, which will be held for three days and under strict health measures due to the COVID-19 spread.
Political parties and independent candidates are competing to win the 450 seats in the State Duma, which are divided equally between party lists and single-seat districts.
Fourteen parties will compete in the parliamentary election, which will take place for the first time after the fundamental constitutional amendments that took place in the summer of 2020, including political parties such as the Russian Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, the ruling United Russia party and the Just Russia party.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu to top the United Russia Party's electoral list in a move that observers described as aiming to enhance the party's chances by presenting prominent nationally and globally known members.
The Central Election Commission has approved 3,910 party candidates to compete for the 225 seats allocated to political parties, while 2,030 independents are competing to fill the 225 designated for single-seat constituencies.
According to the Russian electoral law, any of the parties participating in the elections must obtain more than 5 percent of the votes in order to cross the parliamentary threshold.
According to a Civil Society Development Fund poll, the United Russia party is expected to obtain 42 percent of the vote, followed by the Russian Communist Party with 17 percent. (end) as.aa