Ruling United Russia to form majority in all newly elected legislatures

Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, will form majority in all legislative bodies throughout the country that were elected on September 8, Sergei Neverov, a United Russia leader, said on Monday. “We are satisfied with this campaign and we think that the party has achieved a convincing victory,” Neverov, who is secretary of the United Russia’s general council, told a news conference. “As concerns elections to Legislative Assemblies, we have won 636 out of 820 seats in 16 Russian constituent regions. This result accounts for 77.09%. So, we will form majority in the all these legislatures.” He described this election campaign as “highly competitive.” “Another major thing about these elections is that they were held under strict control of a great number of observers,” he said. “That is why these elections were open and transparent. The party has considerably improved its standing after the election to the State Duma (lower house of Russia’s national parliament).” Neverov attributed United Russia’s success at the September 8 elections to the rotation in those regions where it had “unconvincing results” at the previous elections. “We focused not on issuing campaigning papers but on meetings with voters, on incorporating their proposals into our programs,” he noted.