Pro-Kremlin parties on Monday looked set to win all 14 regional elections contested Sunday, the AFP reported on Monday adding that the results were confirming Kremlin’s near-total dominance of the Russian political scene ahead of upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

The country’s largest party, the pro-presidential United Russia, had secured commanding leads in 13 races by Monday morning, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported, citing provisional results from regional election officials.

“The main result of the elections is that United Russia has remained the leading party in Russia. It had no rivals in the majority of regions,” the general director of polling agency VTsIOM, Valery Fyodorov, told the Interfax news agency late Sunday.

The recently created A Just Russia party —- another fervent supporter of President Vladimir Putin —- was expected to win the remaining district, according to the provisional results.

The figures showed the party sparring with the opposition Communist Party and the pro-government Liberal-Democratic Party for second place in the other races.

The liberal Union of Right Forces appeared close to crossing the 7-percent barrier for representation in four regions, while liberal rivals Yabloko looked set to fail in all 14 regions.

For many observers, the main intrigue in Sunday’s polls was the extent to which United Russia and A Just Russia —- both seen as creations of Kremlin technocrats —- would compete with each other.

A Just Russia, which has sought to emphasize its social conscience, saw its strongest result in the southwestern Stavropol region.

Provisional figures showed it leading United Russia by 10 percentage points in the race for the regional assembly after an acrimonious campaign that pitched members of the local elite against each other.

The polls in 14 of 86 electoral districts, which involved almost 31 million people, about a third of the country’s electorate, were expected to set the stage for nationwide legislative elections to the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, in December.

The December parliamentary poll will in turn form the backdrop for a presidential vote to confirm a successor to Vladimir Putin on March 2 next year.

Critics are likely to class Sunday’s elections as another example of Russia’s “managed democracy” in which the independent media is stifled and opposition groups squeezed out by pro-Putin parties.

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