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Putin to meet with election commission chief, governors following Duma election

Russia’s Central Election Commission is expected to validate results of elections on September 22

MOSCOW, September 22./TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will on Friday hold several meetings in the follow-up of elections to the State Duma on September 18, the Kremlin press service reports.

"In particular, the president will meet with Central Election Commission (CEC) chairperson Ella Pamfilova and CEC members. He will also traditionally meet with the leaders of the parties that made it into the State Duma," it said.

"Later in the day, Vladimir Putin will receive the newly elected heads of regions, who will tell the president about plans of their future work to develop Russian regions," it went on.

According to the draft agenda of Russia’s Central Election Commission, it is due to give the September 18 elections to the State Duma their official stamp of approval late on Thursday.

The session is due to begin at 11.00 p.m. Moscow time (2000GMT). The agenda includes only one point "On validating general results of elections of 7th State Duma deputies." The commission’s deputy chair Nikolai Bulayev will report on the matter.

The State Duma elections took place on September 18 in a mixed system: 225 members of parliament were being elected by party tickets, while the other 225 were being elected in one-seat constituencies. There was no minimum voter turnout requirement in Russia for the elections to be declared valid.

The ruling United Russia party obtained 343 seats in the 450-seat State Duma after the September 18 elections, securing a constitutional majority, according to the preliminary results. The Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) got 42 seats and 39 seats, respectively. The party A Just Russia will have 23 seats. The Rodina and Civil Platform will also get one seat each. One seat goes to self-nominated candidate Vladislav Reznik.