United Russia, the nationalist party backing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin saw its representation slashed from 315 to 238 seats out of 450 in Sunday’s polls.
But even this reduced showing seemed to have been gained through interference by authorities at polling stations, the Financial Times reports.
International observers from the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe reported evidence of “flagrant procedural violations” and instances of “manipulation including several serious indications of ballot box stuffing”.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, some of the more questionable voting for United Russia came from pro-Moscow warlord-run regions such as the north Caucasus.
Vote tallies showed 99.5 per cent of Chechens and 91 per cent of Dagestanis voted for United Russia. (See also the Moscow Times report).
Meanwhile, more than 90 per cent of patients in mental hospitals did the same.
“The Caucasus and our psychiatric hospitals have rescued United Russia from total humiliation” ran the headline on website Topnews.ru.
