As expected, the Kremlin party “United Russia” was declared the winner of the three-day parliamentary elections. According to data from the Central Election Commission in Moscow, the party, which has ruled the country for more than 20 years, won 57.9 percent of the vote and is likely to receive at least 338 of the 450 seats in the State Duma - a dozen more than before.
The Communist Party is second with about 13.8 percent of the vote; The ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) won 8.9 percent, while the New People party, popular among liberal city dwellers, won 7.9 percent. The Just Russia party failed to pass the five percent threshold, preliminary results show, meaning that only four parties will be represented in the new Russian parliament.
Only Kremlin-loyal parties in the election
All the parties that ran in the election are loyal to the Kremlin and support Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine. The vote, which critics of the government described as a farce, is seen as an important confirmation of President Vladimir Putin's war policy.
Dozens of war veterans ran for United Russia. For the Kremlin party, this was the most difficult election campaign to date - due to the large-scale economic crisis, war fatigue and dissatisfaction among the people, notes ARD.
Attempts at manipulation and soldier observers
The opposition forces, which advocated the conclusion of a peace treaty, were not allowed to participate in the elections. The chairman of the Yabloko party, Nikolai Rybakov, called on the party's supporters to invalidate their ballots. Not only Yabloko, however, but also the traditionally strong Communist Party complained that hundreds of their observers were prevented from carrying out control at the polling stations.
According to data from independent observers of the elections in St. Petersburg, the election protocols did not match the number of voters counted at the vote. In addition, at several polling stations, pre-filled ballots were filmed being thrown into the ballot boxes. The BBC Russian Service reported that civil servants in the provincial regions were forced to vote.
Despite protests in Ukraine, elections were held for the first time in the Russian-occupied parts of the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson. In the Donetsk region, armed soldiers watched the ballots being thrown into the ballot boxes.
Kaia Kalas: fake elections and facade democracy in Russia
The European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaia Kalas, called the “fake” elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories and announced that it had proposed measures against those who helped hold these sham elections there.
"The so-called Duma elections marked another serious blow to Russian democracy. Their outcome was never in doubt. The Kremlin silenced the opposition, expelled the only registered party opposing the war in Ukraine, and did not allow international observers to the elections. Only the facade of democracy remains in Russia," wrote Kalas on the X platform.