A parliamentary election that President Vladimir Putin has cast as a test of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine entered its third and final day on Sunday (September 20, 2026), with the ruling United Russia party expected to retain its dominance in a political system critics say does not tolerate dissent.
Putin on Friday (September 18, 2026) accused Ukraine of trying to interfere in the election, citing what he said was a Ukrainian strike on the home of an election official in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region that killed Elena Astanina, the official. Russian electoral officials also said on Saturday (September 19, 2026) that an online voting system in Moscow had come under cyberattack. Most anti-war candidates were barred from the ballot. Mr. Reuters could not independently verify details of the attack and there was no immediate comment from Kyiv. Both parties have consistently voted in line with United Russia on major issues.
Those who did run from the liberal Yabloko party, which has polled in the single digits in recent years but hoped to tap into war fatigue, said they feared for their freedom after courts handed long jail terms to two senior party figures before the vote for comments about the conflict deemed illegal by authorities. Kyiv, which has suspended elections under martial law, has dismissed the Russian vote as a “pseudo election”. Despite what most experts see as the election’s predictable outcome, the NEST think-tank in Berlin, co-founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whom Russian authorities have designated “a foreign agent”, said the vote could still produce awkward moments for the Kremlin at a time of economic strain. “The consequences of the war are increasingly being felt within the country, and accumulated anxiety and frustration may translate into votes for the systemic opposition parties that the Kremlin has allowed to remain on the ballot,” it said in a note. It said the Communist party and the New People party could attract votes the authorities would prefer to go to United Russia.
