Communist Party Makes Significant Gains in Russian Regional Polls

The Communist Party of Russian Federation (KPRF) has made significant gains in the regional elections held in Russia on September 8, meanwhile the United Russia party led by the incumbent president Vladimr Putin lost a significant share of votes in several regions.

In the Moscow City Duma, KPRF increased their seats from 5 to 13 while the ruling United Russia managed to get 25 seats, losing 13 seats compared to the previous elections. Earlier, in August, massive protests erupted in Moscow against irregularities and discrimination in the scrutiny of nominations for the Moscow Duma.

Perspective Communiste reported that even in the constituency where Putin himself used to vote, the candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), Nikolai Gubenko, won with 58.29% of the votes.

In most of the regions, where elections were held– including Altai Republic, Mari El Republic, Volgograd Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Bryansk Oblast, Tula Oblast, Sakhalin Oblast etc.– the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) won second place with better results compared to previous elections in 2014.  In the city of Sevastopol (Crimea), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) got three seats in the council for the first time since the Crimea joined Russia.

Following the announcement of the election results, the President of the Central Committee of the KPRF, Gennadi Zyuganov, said in a press conference that the Communist Party has maintained its presence and strengthens its position in all of the local parliaments.