Russia's ruling party retains "constitutional majority" in State Duma: official election results

The results of the Ninth State Duma elections show that the ruling United Russia party has won 349 seats, retaining its "constitutional majority" status, Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairperson Ella Pamfilova announced on Friday.

Pamfilova said that representatives of six parties and four self-nominated candidates were elected to the new State Duma, the lower house of parliament.

According to CEC statistics, United Russia won 349 seats in the lower house of parliament, followed by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation with 37 seats, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia with 23 seats, New People with 19 seats, A Just Russia with 17 seats, and Rodina with one seat. The four remaining seats were allocated to self-nominated candidates.

The final turnout in the Sept 18-20 State Duma election was 59.8 percent, higher than the 51.72 percent recorded in 2021, Pamfilova said.

The State Duma is Russia's permanent legislative body, with 450 deputies.

The seat allocation for this election followed the traditional model: of the 450 State Duma seats, 225 are distributed proportionally according to party lists, with participating parties required to reach a 5-percent threshold to obtain seats. The remaining 225 seats were elected through single-mandate constituencies nationwide under a relative majority voting system.

Russia's ruling party retains "constitutional majority" in State Duma: official election results

Russia's ruling party retains "constitutional majority" in State Duma: official election results

The UN Security Council held a meeting on refugee issues on Friday, where a Chinese envoy called on the international community to respond to the growing crisis with unity and cooperation.

Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, noted that regional conflicts continue to drag on and recur, while humanitarian crises are erupting in multiple locations. He urged the international community to embrace the humanitarian spirit and work together to tackle refugee challenges.

Sun emphasized that the Security Council must live up to its primary responsibility of safeguarding international peace and security. He called on the Council to stick to the principle of resolving disputes peacefully and press the parties to conflicts to renounce violence and achieve lasting ceasefires as soon as possible.

The Chinese envoy also highlighted development as the key pillar and fundamental solution to refugee issues. He said the international community - developed countries in particular - should step up development assistance to help affected countries rebuild their economies and make improvements in employment, education and infrastructure. Such efforts, he noted, would strengthen these countries' capacity to cope with risks and lay the groundwork for durable solutions to the plight of refugees and displaced persons.

China calls for solidarity, development to address global refugee crisis