MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee in the upper house of Russia’s parliament, Konstantin Kosachyov, believes that after the recent Russian elections the West has practically no chance of quibbling about the procedures and the results of the voting.

"We have yet to see the West’s reaction that usually seeks every possible opportunity to find faults with procedures and results as well as to support "their people". Given the voting’s results this will be almost impossible," the senator wrote on his Facebook page.

Kosachyov noted that "all countries except one (Ukraine) have acted rather decently, refraining from explicit interference in the election process." "The measures to secure Russia’s sovereignty that the legislators have been consistently taking, have finally worked out," he wrote.

The Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee also pointed out that the new election procedure (decreasing the party representation threshold from 7% to 5%, easing party registration and participation rules, the introduction of individual mandates besides party lists) "was in many aspects an answer to the numerous calls for reforms by international observers after the 2011 election campaign." The senator was confident that "the new procedure is in line with the highest standards of democracy."

Kosachyov also emphasized the fact that the voting arrangement in Russia "was simple and transparent, neither the participants nor the observers have any serious objections (there were about 800 foreign observers alone which is a record number)." "The same four parties have made it into the parliament which means the stability of political life and the continuity of the course that the State Duma adopted according to its competence," he said.

According to Kosachyov, "the impressive, greater-than-expected victory of the United Russia party has corroborated public support for the president’s policy that has been implemented in the face of unprecedented external challenges (NATO, Ukraine, Syria and the economic crisis)."

According to the voting’s initial results, United Russia garnered 343 mandates (76.22% of the seats), the Communist Party gained 42 mandates (9.34% of the seats), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) obtained 39 mandates (8.67% of the seats) and A Just Russia Party has gained 23 mandates (5.11% of the seats). Rodina (or Motherland) Party, Grazhdanskaya Platforma (translated as Civil Platform) and self-nominated candidate Vladislav Reznik will have one seat each.

After counting 93% of the ballots, the voter turnout was said to be 47.81%.

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 is no minimum voter turnout requirement in Russia for the elections to be declared valid.