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United Russia has all chances of retaining parliamentary majority after polls — Medvedev

However, hard work is needed for that, Medvedev said

© Ekaterina Shtukina/TASS

GORKI, February 1. /TASS/. The United Russia party has all chances of retaining the majority in the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, after the 2021 parliamentary elections, the party’s chairman and deputy chief of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said in an interview with the Russian media.

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"I think that United Russia has all chances of getting the majority, [but] hard work is needed for that," he said.

When asked about perspectives of retaining the constitutional majority in the State Duma - which means holding more than two thirds of seats in the Russian parliament’s lower chamber, Medvedev replied: "Apparently, this is also possible, but United Russia needs to win support of a very large number of people in order to achieve that goal."

"This is potentially possible, we did this in the past, and people had that kind of trust in us," the party chairman added.

At the same time, he stressed that "the situation is different now" and in terms of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the party should focus on helping people rather than on political campaigning, "which is exactly what United Russia is doing now".

In this regard, he mentioned volunteering activities, including at COVID-19 hospitals, in which the party is involved at the moment.

"When a person <...> goes into a hospital’s red zone, he hardly thinks about the [political] advantage gained. Most likely, it is a totally different type of motivation, it is personal attitude," Medvedev continued. "Honestly, it should also be said that no other party except United Russia is engaged in this type of activity. And I hope that our country’s citizens noticed the party’s efforts of this kind."

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