Russians head to the polls from Friday to Sunday to elect members of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, in the first parliamentary election to be held since the country launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The vote comes as Russians face a slowing economy as well as Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries and warehouses far from the front line. United Russia, the governing party that backs President Vladimir Putin, is expected to keep its dominant position.
The authorities are presenting the election as a chance for voters to have their say. Critics argue that with no genuine opposition on the ballot, the result is largely settled in advance. So why are the elections worth watching?
Here is what you need to know: Starting Friday and lasting through Sunday, Russians will elect members of the lower house, the State Duma. They will also cast ballots in local elections. Voters in 11 regions will elect their governors, and 39 regions will elect members of regional legislatures.
Voting is spread over three days to boost turnout among the 111 million eligible voters and includes areas Russia occupies in Ukraine. Electronic voting is allowed. Half of the Duma’s 450 seats are filled by party lists and the other half are contested in single-ballot races.
Russia’s governing party, formed in 2001 from a merger of pro-Kremlin parties, has backed Putin and dominated the parliament ever since. United Russia won more than two-thirds of the Duma’s seats in the 2021 election. It is again poised to dominate the body.
The party’s list is led by political heavyweights: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat for 22 years, and Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow’s powerful mayor. In an apparent bid to add fresh faces to what is widely seen as a party of bureaucrats, its third-highest-ranking official is war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny, who was badly wounded by a Ukrainian drone. Members of United Russia have pledged to back the war effort and Putin’s maximalist goals in what the Kremlin calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
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