President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party secured more than 49% of votes in parliamentary elections, the country’s election commission said on Monday. 


In a statement, Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Electoral Commission, said that the voter turnout was 51.68%.

As 99.69% percent of votes have been counted until now, Pamfilova said, out of the 14 political parties, five of them passed the threshold to make it to the State Duma, the lower house of the parliament.


Pamfilova described the election result as "an expansion of the political diversity," according to Russia's TASS news agency.