Russia wartime election gives United Russia record Duma majority

Russian authorities on Friday released the full results of the country’s first parliamentary election held during wartime, with the outcome further reinforcing the Kremlin’s political control. The main pro-Kremlin party, United Russia, secured more than three-fourths of the seats in the lower house, the State Duma, in what was described as a record high after a tightly managed vote that excluded virtually any genuine opposition.

The three-day voting ended on Sunday, with nearly 60 per cent of the 111 million eligible voters taking part, the highest turnout for a parliamentary election in more than a decade. Authorities had spread voting over three days and allowed online voting in some regions to increase participation.

The election was the first since President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It was also the first to include residents of four regions of Ukraine that were seized and illegally annexed by Moscow later that year. Voting was also held in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Kyiv denounced the voting in those regions as illegal.

Putin said on Wednesday that the results showed public support for Kremlin policies. A massive state media campaign and tight control over the election helped the Kremlin strengthen its political dominance despite economic problems and long-range Ukrainian drone attacks.

Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said United Russia won 349 of the 450 seats in the Duma. The party got just under 58 per cent of the vote for the 225 seats allotted by party lists and also won 209 single-seat contests that fill the other half of the chamber. Pamfilova said several smaller parties representing the “systemic opposition”, which vote in line with the Kremlin’s wishes on all key issues, won 97 seats, while the remaining four seats went to candidates without party affiliation.

United Russia and other parties said they had included dozens of veterans of the war in Ukraine on their candidate lists. The liberal Yabloko party, the only registered political group that publicly criticised the war, was removed from the ballot last month by Russia’s Supreme Court. It had only a few dozen candidates in single-seat races, and none won a seat.

The election took place amid repeated Ukrainian drone attacks. On Sunday, Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had downed 1,110 drones overnight. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 450 drones had been downed while heading towards the city on Sunday in what he called “the largest ever” attack on the capital, in a failed attempt to disrupt the vote. Officials said the attack damaged an oil refinery and a residential building and killed three people and injured 38 in the wider Moscow region.

Pamfilova also said six polling workers were killed in Ukrainian attacks and 75 polling stations were damaged or destroyed by shelling during the voting. Overall, the election delivered a record result for United Russia, high turnout and a further consolidation of Kremlin control during the war.