No surprises, rather a script already written. The elections in Russia for the renewal of the State Duma, the first since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, see the ruling United Russia party assert itself. The data must be made official, but the formation close to President Vladimir Putin is close to 58% and undermines the ability to promote constitutional reforms.
It was an expected result. Formally, there were about ten parties in conflict, but there was the systematic exclusion of any open opposition force or force opposed to the conflict in Ukraine, such as the Yabloko list eliminated after just five days of electoral campaign for an alleged copyright infringement. The European Union has denounced a climate of “systematic and institutionalized repression”.
Putin’s expected and predictable victory
The electoral round to elect the deputies of the ninth Russian State Duma took place from 18 to 20 September, with the formal participation of 10 parties.
Ella Pamfilova, chairwoman of the Election Commission, said this year’s parliamentary elections saw a record turnout of 56.66%, based on preliminary data. Over 3.6 million people voted online, Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development reported.
The Russian Central Election Commission will announce the preliminary results of the elections at 11am in Moscow (10am in Italy). According to currently available data, the ruling party “United Russia” exceeded 57.84% of the votes, followed by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) with 13.74% and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) with 8.73%. The “New People” and “Just Russia – For Truth” parties obtained 7.88% and 5.13% respectively.
Dissent
In St. Petersburg, Nikolai Rybakov, the leader of the opposition Yabloko party, whose list was excluded from the elections after he explicitly declared himself against the conflict in Ukraine, placed his ballot in the ballot box after having annulled it by writing “for peace” on it and showing it to journalists and photographers.
In some polling stations in peripheral and semi-peripheral districts of Moscow, however, queues of voters, particularly young people, formed at the polls at exactly midday, the time for which some opposition figures abroad had appealed to citizens to go to the polls to be seen in a silent and risk-free form of protest against the Kremlin.
«За миращении огня» написал на своих бюллетенях лидер «Яблока» Николай Рыбаков
Previously 20 years ago Петербурга, передал корреспондент «Бумаги».
Here’s the story of the story and the story of the story прошлого созыва… pic.twitter.com/bZkb5o1MOz
— «Бумага» (@paperpaper_ru) September 20, 2026