UPDATE2: United Russia leads State Duma elections with 54.1% votes

(Provides new figures, comments throughout)

MOSCOW, Sep 19 (PRIME) -- The ruling United Russia party has won 54.1% of the votes and 203 single-member constituency candidates during elections to the State Duma, the Russian parliament’s lower house, the Central Election Commission said Monday after counting 97.16% of the ballots.

The Communist Party gained 13.42% of the votes, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) has 13.25% and A Just Russia won 6.19%.

No other parties managed to cross the 5% threshold, which would guarantee them seats in the State Duma.

The State Duma has a total of 450 seats. Members are elected for five years.

The voter turnout was estimated at 47.81%, the commission’s head Ella Pamfilova said.

Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said the State Duma could hold its first plenary meeting after the elections in the first week of October. The government plans to submit a draft budget for 2017 to the State Duma in the near future, he also said.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no doubts that the Central Election Commission will take all measures over all reported violations during the elections.

“There is a certain procedure to contest and file a complaint to the Central Election Commission, and there are no doubts that measures will be taken on all signals. I mean there are no doubts,” he said.

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