Full Breakdown
United Russia poised to retain super-majority in wartime State Duma election
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event – September 18-20 parliamentary vote under war conditions
Russia held a three-day election for the 450-member State Duma from September 18 to September 20. Half the seats were filled from party-list ballots and half from single-member constituencies. All 111 million eligible voters, including residents of the four Ukrainian regions annexed after the 2022 invasion and Crimea, could vote in person or via remote electronic voting.
Background & Context
These are the first parliamentary elections since President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Kremlin framed the vote as a “referendum on the war,” seeking to demonstrate popular backing while the conflict enters its fifth year. The Supreme Court barred the liberal Yabloko party—the only registered party openly opposing the war—from the nationwide party-list ballot, though a handful of its candidates remain in single-member races. OSCE observers were not invited, drawing diplomatic criticism.
Data & Statistics
Preliminary results from the Central Election Commission (CEC) show United Russia with about 57 % of the party-list vote, the Communist Party at ? 14 %, the Liberal Democratic Party at ? 9 %, New People at ? 8 %, and A Just Russia at ? 5 %. Turnout is reported at just over 56 %, higher than the 51.7 % recorded in 2021. More than 3 million voters used electronic voting; the CEC claims a 90.87 % participation rate on the federal electronic platform, though these figures cannot be independently verified.
Criticism & Opposition
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pere Joan Pons condemned the refusal to invite OSCE observers as a breach of international commitments. Yabloko reported that an observer lost consciousness after being arrested by police at a St. Petersburg polling station and alleges widespread denial of entry for its monitors. Research fellow Jaroslava Barbieri (Ukraine Forum, Chatham House) described the election environment as “a total regime of terror” and highlighted the use of Russian soldiers to escort ballot boxes as “direct intimidation.”
On-the-Ground Reports
Ukrainian drone strikes caused civilian casualties during the vote: a man was killed in the Kursk region on September 18, and on September 20 three people died in the Moscow region, a bus was hit in Russian-held Kherson, and additional deaths were reported in Donetsk. Local accounts from Mari El describe suspected ballot-stuffing, while in Perm observers noted a security envelope with 100 % of votes for United Russia but lacking signatures. In St. Petersburg, a Yabloko observer was taken to a police station and charged with disobeying police orders.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
Turnout figures range from 56 % (multiple sources) to 56.66 % (CEC), and United Russia’s party-list share varies between 57.02 % and 57.87 % across preliminary tallies. No independent monitors were present, and the CEC’s electronic-voting statistics cannot be corroborated, leaving the true scale of alleged irregularities unclear.
What’s Next
The CEC has announced that final nationwide results will be released no earlier than September 25. Analysts expect the Kremlin to cite the outcome as evidence of continued public support for the war and to use the vote to legitimize further domestic or military measures.