Preliminary election results give Putin's United Russia Party more than 60 percent of the vote.
Last December's parliamentary election delivered near-total control of the Duma and its committees to the pro-Putin United Russia party.
Vladimir Putin was nominated by his United Russia Party to retake the controls in the Kremlin in March 2012.
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Opposition parties claim that they could have won even more seats had the United Russia party not committed foul play.
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Mr Putin is also backed by a parliament that is fully under the control of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party.
Consolidation of power in the hands of the ruling United Russia party has led to the growing apathy of the population.
Putin's United Russia Party grabbed a little more than 64 percent of the vote in an election that saw heavy turnout.
In reality, however, the Russian parliament was long ago turned into a rubber-stamping body dominated by Mr Putin's United Russia party.
He can turn a phrase, and stuck the memorable "party of crooks and thieves" label on the ruling United Russia Party.
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Mr Putin, the bad cop, runs Russia and distributes the money, as he made clear in the recent conference of his United Russia party.
According to the council, which is dominated by Russia's ruling United Russia party, the decision was taken after "numerous requests" from World War II veterans.
Political activists have been gunning for Putin since October when it became clear that his United Russia party displayed little interest in changing the status quo.
According to a poll by Moscow-based Levada Center, nearly a third of Russian voters say that the United Russia party is most representative of their political interests.
Many believe he'll use an expected landslide by the pro-Putin United Russia Party in December's parliamentary elections to justify holding on to power, possibly by becoming prime minister.
"They are programmed from the Internet, " said Rizvan Kurbanov, a deputy representing Dagestan in the Duma, or Russian Parliament, who is a member of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.
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As a result, the United Russia party convention voted almost unanimously to put Medvedev on top of the elections list, with 582 votes cast for him and only one vote against.
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In the Sunday vote, Putin's United Russia party swept 70 percent of the seats in the new legislature following a tense Kremlin campaign that relied on a combination of persuasion and intimidation to ensure victory.
During a meeting with party officials from the United Russia Party, which he leads, Putin said that the growth number is good, but he hopes to beat it in 2012 even as the global economy slows.
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Knopfler's decision was backed by opponents of President Vladimir Putin, whose United Russia Party passed a bill in November requiring all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) engaging in political activity and receiving overseas funding to register as "foreign agents".
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In the elections, the ruling United Russia party lost 77 seats in the state Duma, taking them out of a full power position which enabled them to change the Russian constitution without needing votes from other parties.
But critics say the law is a setback for democracy in that it favours the ruling United Russia party, which is far less popular than the president himself and had its parliamentary majority sharply reduced in a December 2011 election.
Speaking at the annual congress of the ruling United Russia party on Saturday, of which both Medvedev and Putin are members, the Russian president indicated that he would not seek re-election and was ready to make way for Putin to tackle the reforms Medvedev started.
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The party went from around 52 seats in the Parliament to over 90 on Sunday, its biggest jump yet as low turnout and voter dissatisfaction with Vladimir Putin and current President Dmitry Medvedev handed the ruling United Russia party a loss of nearly 80 seats.
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At a recent forum in Krasnoyarsk for economists, business bigwigs and politicians, including some members of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, there was agreement that the state is not ready to negotiate with, let alone be controlled by, society, and that existing institutions are just a device for the redistribution of property.
Corruption monitors say the issue of big money in politics pales in comparison to the abuse of government resources by the United Russia party of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who announced on March 04 he had won Russia's presidential election , returning the former KGB officer to the office he held from 2000 to 2008.
This YouTube video, according to a Russian blogger who shot it and posted it online, shows a deputy chairman of one of the polling places in Moscow, a member of United Russia party, stealing the ballots at the end of the voting day without following the procedure for the vote count and registering the official results.
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Protesters charged that United Russia forced party staff at state governments to vote in favor of the party on Dec. 4.
United Russia is the party of corruption, the party of crooks and thieves.
Putin would run for president under United Russia, a party in which he heads, and Medvedev would likely become the prime minister.
In the studio, Navalny sat next to Evgeny Fedorov, a doughy, bespectacled member of the Duma and a fairly high-ranking member of United Russia, the political party led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, which today dominates Russia.
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