Early results emerging from Russia’s first parliamentary elections since the launch of the full-fledged war on Ukraine show President Vladimir Putin’s party dominating the vote — an outcome widely predicted. The election, which began on Friday and ended on Sunday to elect members of the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, is projected to see Putin’s United Russia maintain its hold amid a tightly controlled election in which opposition to the president’s policies remains limited. Despite the lack of alternatives to United Russia, the Kremlin had positioned the vote as a chance for residents to have their say since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and amid economic hardship.
Most antiwar candidates have been barred from the ballot. Those who did run from the liberal Yabloko party said they feared for their freedom after two senior party figures were handed long jail terms before the election due to comments made about the Russia-Ukraine war. Still, Yabloko’s leader, Nikolai Rybakov, demonstrably spoiled his ballot paper, writing his party’s name and the slogan “For peace”.
The state news agency TASS reported on Monday that 90.43 percent of ballots had been counted, according to data from the Central Election Commission (CEC). The CEC found that, as of Sunday night, voter turnout stood just below 57 percent. United Russia led with 57.86 percent of the vote, with 225 deputies apportioned from party lists.
In single-seat races, another 225 lawmakers will be chosen, and Putin’s party is also projected to win most of them. So far, no surprises or upsets have been recorded. TASS also reported, citing the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, that more than 3.6 million people voted online.
Those voting included residents of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed in 2022 – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – as well as those in Crimea, which was taken in 2014. The United Nations and most of the world do not recognise Crimea and other occupied Ukrainian regions as part of Russia. Other parties, like the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), New People and A Just Russia, all of which largely vote the same way as United Russia in parliament, trailed behind in the early election results but were still on course to win seats in the State Duma.
The vote breakdown showed the CPRF at 13.84 percent, the LDPR at 8.9 percent, New People at 7.94 percent, and A Just Russia at 4.95 percent, according to TASS. But while the early results paint a predictable outcome, the Berlin-based think tank NEST, cofounded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said the vote could produce awkward moments for the Kremlin at a time of economic strain. NEST said the votes received by the CPRF and New People might in many cases amount to a silent protest against Putin and United Russia — even if these parties do not actually challenge the president on most issues.
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