This year’s Russian parliamentary elections saw United Russia, a Putin-backed party, win a resounding victory on Monday, September 19. This will allow the party to dominate the lower parliament, complementing its power in the upper one.

United Russia party won 51 percent in Sunday’s election, as of a preliminary central election commission tally after only a quarter of the votes had been counted.

The most recent presidential election had seen widespread protest and outcry against Putin for his having allegedly corrupted and swindled the election. This year, Putin has worked to put a fairer face on his party and has actively sought to advertise this election as the cleanest election yet. Notwithstanding, voting fraud is still very much endemic, as videos have become viral on the internet, catching voting administrators stuffing false ballots into ballot boxes when they felt no one else was looking.

The results of all competitor parties were far-trailing those of United Russia. The populist party, LDPR, was second with 15.1 percent, the Communists were in third with 14.9 percent, and the left-of-center Just Russia party came in fourth with 6.4 percent.

Putin hasn’t declared if he will run for reelection in 2018, but, despite growing, sporadic protests, there seems to be a silent acceptance for Putin’s long reign over the nation. Should he win the next election, he would be, next to Stalin himself, the longest-serving Soviet leader in the country’s history.

The election was also the first instance wherein Crimeans participated in a national voting process, what caused Ukrainian nationalists to storm the Russian embassy in Kiev when Russians attempted to vote.