Russia's ruling party cruises to victory in Crimea elections

Russia's ruling party led the polls in Crimea, as preliminary results showed that it got more than 70 percent of the votes in the peninsula's first local elections since its reunification with Russia in March.

Official data from Crimea showed that United Russia, the ruling party of the country, got 71.4 percent after 54.57 percent of the votes were counted, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Twelve parties had registered for the elections in Crimea, where residents were voting for 75 parliament members. Voters in Sevastopol were also electing deputies to a 24-member city legislature.

The outcome of the local elections held in Crimea and Sevastopol was rejected by the United States, the European Union and Ukraine.

Nationwide, 63 eligible political parties, with 111,000 candidates, took part in the local elections that were held Sunday. Preliminary results showed the ruling United Russia party was leading the polls in most regions including Crimea. About 75 million voters were electing by vote 30 governors, 680 regional parliament members, three mayors, and more than 41,000 municipal deputies, according to Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC).

The elections can be seen as a rehearsal for the 2016 elections of Russia's State Duma, or the lower house of parliament, as the winning parties will basically secure the right to compete in the federal parliamentary elections.

A landslide referendum was held in Crimea, which had been an autonomous republic of Ukraine since 1992, on joining Russia in mid-March. The results of the referendum has been rejected by Ukraine and the West.