Low voter turnout in local elections in Murmansk
Russia’s leading party United Russia won 79 of 144 seats in local elections on the Kola Peninsula.
Local elections were held in nine municipalities in Murmansk Oblast this weekend. A total of 432 candidates competed over 144 mandates.
Voter turnout was extremely low in certain parts of the region – as little as 8.79% in Apatity and 8.81% in Murmansk. For all the elections the average voter turnout was 23.10%, B-Port writes.
As expected, the ruling party United Russia won a majority of the seats, but the elections still had a few surprises.
Of the 144 mandates, 20 were distributed according to party lists. According to preliminary data, United Russia received nine of these seats. A Just Russia, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Russian Party of Pensioners for Justice, the Communist Party of Communists of Russia, and the party Yabloko, all won one seat each.
124 candidates were elected in single-member and multi-member constituencies. The candidates nominated by the party “United Russia”, got 70 seats.
The Liberal Democratic Party won five seats, a Just Russia - four, the Communist Party and the Russian Party of Pensioners for Justice – three each. The remaining 39 seats went to self-nominated candidates, TV-21 reports.
Ten percent to Yabloko in Pechenga
Russia’s oldest opposition party, Yabloko, received a surprising 10% of the votes in Pechenga, the municipality bordering to Norway and Finland. This is the party’s best result in the Murmansk region. United Russia got 38.5% of the votes, while the Pensioners’ Party got 12.5% and the party A Just Russia got 10.6%, SeverPost reports.
