Early exit polling from Russian parliamentary elections suggests that Russian President to Be Putin and his United Russia political party will win far fewer seats than they have in previous elections.

In previous votes United Russia had routinely won a 2/3rds supermajority which allowed Putin to basically govern by decree. The returns this time suggest that United Russian may not even win a simple majority in the Duma, forcing them to work with other parties.

Putin is still expected to win the Presidential race with ease so UR and Putin will remain in the drivers seat but things may be a little more democratic than in the past.