The ruling party of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday won Russia’s parliamentary elections, but with a sharply reduced majority, in a blow for the strongman ahead of his planned return to the Kremlin next year.
The results mean his United Russia party has lost the constitutional majority of two-thirds in the State Duma required to pass any changes to the Constitution, amid signs Putin’s once invincible popularity is on the wane.
The vote on Sunday was shadowed by accusations of dirty tricks by the authorities and observers, led by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said the elections were slanted in favor of United Russia and saw violations, including ballot stuffing.
“The election administration lacked independence, most media were partial and state authorities interfered unduly at different levels,” they said.
United Russia should obtain 238 seats in the 450-seat State Duma, an absolute majority, but down sharply from the 315 seats it won in the last polls in 2007, Russian election commission chief Vladimir Churov told reporters.
The party only managed to win 49.54 percent of the vote, he said, a striking contrast from the 2007 polls, when Putin’s popularity was at its peak and his party won more than 64 percent.
“Based on these results, we will be able to ensure the stable development of our country,” Putin said in a terse speech standing alongside Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at his party’s campaign headquarters.
Its biggest opposition will be the Communist Party, with 92 seats, followed by the A Just Russia party, with 64 seats, and the -ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, with 56 mandates. The results are based on a 96 percent vote count.
“United Russia only won a majority in the State Duma because of the particularities of Russian electoral law,” the Vedomosti daily wrote, acidly describing United Russia as “the party of the minority.”
The relatively poor showing came after Putin announced in September he planned to reclaim his old Kremlin job in March presidential polls, despite signs Russians may be growing disillusioned with his 11-year rule.
Putin, who has dominated Russia since 2000, is serving a four-year stint as prime minister after handing over the Kremlin in 2008 to his protege, Medvedev.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary