What the big win for Putin's party at Russia vote tells us

The crushing victory of Russia's ruling party has been welcomed as a vote for "stability" by President Vladimir Putin, but slammed as a catastrophe by the marginalised opposition.

The record win for Putin's party came despite the country suffering the longest economic crisis of the strongman's 16-year rule, but the low voter turnout could raise new problems for the authorities.

Here are some key lessons from the results:

- Unprecedented majority -

For Putin and his allies this is a thumping victory: the United Russia party boosted its share of the vote and will now have some three quarters of the seats in the 450-member State Duma.

Given the Kremlin's stranglehold on media, parties loyal to Putin were always expected to maintain their dominance at the vote -- but the scale of the win for United Russia has surprised many.

The previous State Duma was already viewed as a rubber-stamp body but now United Russia alone has enough deputies to amend the constitution on its own.

- Kremlin in control -

Russia went to the polls on Sunday mired in the longest recession of Putin's rule but the result shows that the Kremlin's dominance remains total.

Despite several years of drama that has seen the country annex Crimea, plunge into their worst standoff with the West since the Cold War and launch a military operation in Syria, the electoral campaign was dubbed the most boring in recent memory.

During Putin's 16 years in charge, those at the top have fashioned a system of "managed democracy" in the country that has turned the Duma into a slavishly pro-Kremlin talking shop and snuffed out genuine opposition.

Now following the vote this system appears to have reached it apotheosis, but could it now be starting to backfire?

- Low turnout -

The voter turnout of under 48 percent at these polls was the lowest for a nationwide parliamentary vote in the history of post-Soviet Russia.

In Moscow and Saint Petersburg participation did not reach more than 30 percent and experts said that many Russians have been turned off by the lack of genuine choice.

"In the big cities there was a noted lack of interest in the elections," said Mark Urnov from Moscow's Higher School of Economics.

"People didn't want to play the game anymore."

While the widespread apathy may have ended up helping to bolster United Russia's share of the vote this time round, it could raise questions of legitimacy in the future.

- No opposition -

Russia's previous State Duma ended its last five-year term with only one member who was viewed as genuine opposition. The next one looks like it will have none.

Weak and divided, Russia's liberal opposition did itself few favours as it fought for some representation in parliament.

This time around more Kremlin opponents were allowed to take part in the vote but the contest was never fair as they faced regular harassment and attacks from state media.

After years of being sidelined by the Kremlin, the situation is grim for the opposition and Russians disenfranchised by their absence.

The authorities have cracked down on the right to protest in the last few years so there are even fewer outlets for criticising Putin.

- Fraud -

After mass protests erupted following the last legislative polls in 2011 over evidence of vote-rigging, the authorities were desperate for this vote to be seen as cleaner and more legitimate.

Observers reported a raft of violations that have typically dogged Russian elections -- such as ballot stuffing and multiple voting -- but conceded there seemed to have been less of that than last time.

Nonetheless the independent Golos monitoring group said the vote was irrevocably tilted in favour of pro-Kremlin parties and was "far from what can truly be called free and fair".

- Putin 2018? -

The huge win for United Russia and the largely trouble-free vote inevitably appears to pave the way for Putin to cruise to a fourth term as president at a vote scheduled for 2018.

The Kremlin strongman has not yet said that he is going to run for another six-year term, which would make him the longest ruling leader since Stalin, but with his approval ratings at 80 percent few doubt he will.

"It's obvious that the overwhelming majority of those who voted de facto voiced support for the president," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of Sunday's poll.

"Once more, we see the president gain an impressive vote of confidence from the people."