President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party swept parliamentary elections, as expected.
With 98 percent of the ballots counted from Sunday, United Russia had 64.1of the vote.
The voting appeared to reinforce Putin’s claim that although he cannot serve a third term, he can keep guiding Russia even after he steps down March 2.
The opposition Communist Party came in second with 11.6 percent of the vote.
JTA found that some Russian Jews registered their disapproval at what they see as a period of eroding freedoms across Russia by surprisingly opting for the Communist Party in a protest vote.
Only two other parties, both loyal to the Kremlin, cleared the 7 percent of the vote needed to enter the lower house of parliament, the Duma. The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia had 8.2 percent of the vote and Fair Russia had 7.6 percent.
Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion and opposition candidate who is an outspoken critic of Putin, told the Washington Post he trashed his ballot at a central Moscow polling station. His Other Russia coalition is not a registered party.
