Russia’s ruling United Russia party has cruised to an easy victory in parliamentary polls Sunday that could pave the way for President Vladimir Putin to glide to a fourth term in 2018 elections for the 450-seat State Duma, partial results showed.

“We can announce already with certainty that the party secured a good result, that it won,” Putin said after polls closed. “The situation is tough and difficult but the people still voted for United Russia,” he said on state television.

With 90 percent of the votes counted, the United Russia party had 54.3 percent of votes, securing it at least 338 seats in the 450-member parliament, up from 238 previously, according to results announced early Monday.

It was followed by the Communists and the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, on 13.5 percent and 13.3 percent respectively, and A Just Russia, which received 6.2 percent, results published by the election commission showed.

Source: AFP