BREAKING NEWS

Russia's ruling pro-Putin party wins majority in parliamentary vote - early results

Russia's ruling United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, is set to retain a majority in Russia's 450-seat legislature despite losing significant ground to its opponents, initial results showed on Sunday.

After 25% of ballots had been tallied, the Central Election Commission said United Russia had received 44.26% of the vote.

The party won just over 54% of the vote at the last parliamentary elections in 2016. It has since faced a slump in its popularity due to falling living standards.

Preliminary results published by the Central Election Commission showed the Communist Party finishing in second place with 22.31% of the vote, followed by the nationalist LDPR party with 8.5%.