The United Russia Party, led by Vladimir Putin, won the majority of votes in the parliamentary elections, which were the first held since the beginning of the military invasion of Ukraine in 2022. According to preliminary data from the Central Election Commission of Russia, the party received about 58 percent of the votes for the 225 representatives elected through party lists.
Details of the Election and Its Results
This election, which lasted for three days and concluded on Sunday, will also see 225 other representatives elected in single-member districts, where candidates from the United Russia Party hold dominance. The results of this election were largely predictable, and while it was expected that the ruling party would win, there were many criticisms regarding the conduct of the election.
Reactions to the Election Results
Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, stated that this election "represents a major setback for democracy in Russia" and that the results "were never in doubt." She also referred to actions against those who facilitated this sham election in the occupied regions of Ukraine. The regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, which have been illegally occupied by the Kremlin, also participated in this election, and there were reports of pressure on residents to vote.
The war in Ukraine significantly influenced this election. The voices of the opposition have been severely suppressed, and the Yabloko Party, the only anti-war party in the country, was barred from presenting a national list of candidates in the Duma. Nikolai Ryabkov, the leader of Yabloko, stated after the election: "A party that has had no representatives in the country's parliament for 23 years could have secured second place in the polls under the current conditions, but the authorities did nothing but eliminate this party from the elections."
Dmitry Medvedev, the former President of Russia and Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the country, commented on the election results: "The citizens of our country have maintained their trust in the leading political force (Putin's party) and consider it suitable for continued leadership at various levels of government." These statements reflect the hopes of Russian officials for the continued dominance of the ruling party in the future.
