The FINANCIAL -- Vladimir Putin's United Russia party is likely to have 238 seats in Russia's 450-seat State Duma lower house of parliament after Sunday's election, Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov said on Monday, according to TODAY'S ZAMAN.

The forecast, based on a nearly complete preliminary count that gave United Russia 49.5 percent of the votes, would give the prime minister's party a relatively slim 13-seat majority in the Duma. It previously held 315 seats.    

Churov predicted the Communist Party would have 92 seats under the complicated division of seats, followed by Just Russia with 64 seats and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's nationalist LDPR with 56 seats.

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