Russia’s ruling United Russia party, which supports president Vladimir Putin, retained its majority in parliament after a three-day election and a sweeping crackdown on its critics, despite losing around one fifth of its support, partial results on Monday showed, writes The Guardian.

With 50% of votes counted, United Russia was ahead with 46.11% of the vote, the election commission said, followed by the Communist party with 21.4%.

Although that amounts to an emphatic win, it would be a weaker performance for United Russia than the last time a parliamentary election was held in 2016, when the party won just over 54% of the vote.