The ruling United Russia party is widely leading in Sunday's Russian regional elections according to preliminary results from the Central Election Commission. Millions of Russians voted on Sunday in regional elections throughout the country seen as a popularity test for United Russia amid rising unemployment and housing and utilities prices. Elections to local authorities were held in 76 out of 83 Russian regions.
In line with preliminary data, in the eight regions where deputies of legislatures were elected on Sunday, pro-Kremlin United Russia gained 40% to 70% and was followed by the Communists, Liberal Democrats (LDPR) and the opposition A Just Russia party, which exchanged second, third and fourth places in different regions. The eight regions were the Khabarovsk Territory in the Russian Far East, the Republic of Altai and the Kurgan Region in south Siberia, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area in northwest Siberia, the Sverdlovsk Region in the Urals, the Ryazan and Kaluga Regions in central Russia and the Voronezh Region in southwest Russia.
United Russia, A Just Russia, the LDPR and the Communists all have factions in Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma. They were challenged by liberal opposition party Right Cause in the Voronezh and Ryazan Regions, and Russia's Patriots party in the Ryazan and Kaluga Regions and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area, but those parties did not seem to have cleared the 7% threshold.
At last year's regional elections held on October 11, opposition parties claimed electoral fraud after the ruling United Russia party won by a landslide, following which President Dmitry Medvedev said the country needed tighter supervision to ensure fair voting.
