Candidates from the ruling United Russia party have won the governor's seat in all 21 regions where the election was held as well as in 11 regional legislatures, the Associated Press reports.

Early results released Monday, September 14, showed only one of the 21 United Russia candidates got less than 50 percent of the vote.

The RPR-Parnas opposition party, which was allowed for run for a regional parliament in only one region, the largely rural Kostroma, polled just under 2 percent of the vote.

The independent election monitor Golos said in a report Monday that the vote demonstrated the lack of political competition in Russia.