Vladimir Putin's political allies won a landslide victory in a parliamentary election in Russia, near final results showed on Sept. 19, paving the way for Putin to run for a fourth term as president in 18 months if, as expected, he chooses to do so.
The ruling United Russia party, founded by Putin almost 16 years ago after he first became president, was on track to win 343 seats or 76 percent of 450 available seats in Russia’s Duma, the lower house of parliament, the Central Election Commission said, after 93 percent of ballots had been counted.
