President Vladimir Putin is set to retain his political dominance after the three-day vote saw little opposition, initial figures released Monday by the Central Election Commission show. Russia’s ruling United Russia party has been leading the country’s first parliamentary election since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Turnout stood at 56.66% when polling closed on Sunday, the election commission said. Over 111 million Russians were eligible to vote. With about 58% of precincts counted, United Russia had nearly 58% of the party-list vote and was leading in most single-seat races, putting it on course to retain its majority in the 450-seat State Duma. It also covered Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, including parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as well as Crimea , which Russia annexed in 2014.
The election was held from Friday to Sunday and included remote electronic voting. Ukraine rejects Russia’s claims over the territories. The liberal Yabloko party, which opposed the war, was removed from the nationwide ballot by Russia’s Supreme Court in August. Several anti-war politicians were also jailed, barred from standing or forced to leave the country. Opposition figure Leonid Volkov questioned whether the problems were deliberate and asked voters to demand paper ballots.
Opposition parties report voting violations
Opposition parties reported alleged voting irregularities, including observers being denied access and voters being refused paper ballots. Yabloko and the Communist Party said some of their observers were denied access to polling stations, AP reported. Russia did not invite OSCE election observers.
Moscow cited “double standards”, while OSCE officials said the decision breached Russia’s commitments.
