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Recent election outcomes show US, EU voters want change in government, says Duma speaker

The speaker of Russia’s State Duma said that the outcome of the recent elections in Europe and the US demonstrated that constituents there want to see a new government

© Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/. Speaker of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin said that the outcome of the recent elections in Europe and the US demonstrated that constituents there want to see a new government.

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"The recent elections in the US and Europe indicate system-wide changes in voters’ attitude towards politicians and parties, which have been in power for a long time," Volodin told reporters on Monday, commenting on the voting results in Bavaria. In this regard, he recalled that none of the European heads of state believed that Donald Trump could become President of the US at the time. "Yesterday, the Christian Social Union Party (CSU), which has ruled in Bavaria since 1957, lost its absolute majority," Volodin noted. "It will be impossible for CSU to form a government without the coalition."

"Meanwhile, the parties, which are responding to people’s urgent demands, such as on issues of migration, unemployment, environmental protection, affordable education and medical care, are gaining more support," the speaker pointed out. "The failing Western elite keep hoping that this is just a coincidence and not a trend. They cannot find a better explanation for their poor election results other than Russia’s interference in the election," he added.

"But the latest election outcomes in the US and Europe have taken on a system-wide characteristic," said Volodin. "They must look at themselves critically and, first of all, ask themselves (why it had happened)," he continued. "It is time for foreign politicians to apologize for the groundless accusations against Russia after an assessment of the recent election campaigns in Europe."

On October 15, Germany held elections to the Bavarian Parliament (Landtag). Preliminary results showed that the CSU, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won the election but only received 37.2% of the vote. During the previous elections to the Bavarian Landtag, which took place in 2013, the CSU had garnered 47.7% of votes.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which touts itself as being tough on immigration, entered the Landtag for the first time gaining 10.3% of the vote.

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