United Russia leads State Duma election with 57.5% after three-day vote

Preliminary vote count

Russia's Central Election Commission began publishing initial results on Sunday evening immediately after the final polling stations closed. With 13.88% of electoral protocols processed nationwide, the ruling United Russia party secured 57.54% of the vote on federal party lists. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) stood in second place with 13.67% of the preliminary count. The nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) obtained 9.27%, the New People party took 7.96%, and A Just Russia received 5.16%. Ten other registered political formations collected less than 5% of the ballots each, leaving them short of the threshold needed to gain seats in the State Duma. Exit polling conducted by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) and the INSOMAR institute aligned with the preliminary count, indicating that only Kremlin-aligned parties would secure parliamentary representation.

Turnout and polling conduct

Official nationwide voter turnout reached 56.66% by 20:55 Moscow time on Sunday evening, according to data released by the Central Election Commission. That level represents an increase compared to the 2021 parliamentary elections, when overall turnout stood at 51.72% prior to the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. Independent election analysts stated that the elevated turnout figures reflected extensive administrative mobilization among public sector workers alongside systematic electoral falsification. In Moscow, voters who sought to cast paper ballots rather than using the state-promoted electronic voting system encountered extensive queues at local precincts. Election administrators suspended paper ballot distribution during Sunday's voting, claiming that an external hacker attack had disrupted precinct verification procedures.

Voting in occupied regions and local races

The parliamentary election unfolded across three days from 18 to 20 September, concluding when polling stations in the western exclave of Kaliningrad closed at 21:00 Moscow time. The vote for the State Duma took place alongside more than 2,200 regional and municipal elections held at various administrative tiers across the Russian Federation. Russian authorities also staged balloting across Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. In occupied Donetsk Oblast, occupation officials reported that 75% of registered voters, accounting for more than one million individuals, had cast ballots in advance voting by Friday before the main weekend polling had concluded.

Barred opposition and international response

The contest served as the first election to the State Duma since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russian authorities barred independent and anti-war political parties from taking part in the election, including the liberal Yabloko party. United Russia entered the contest with 390 candidates approved on its federal party list, maintaining its position as the central political vehicle for President Vladimir Putin. Western officials and international analysts condemned the electoral process as undemocratic and uncompetitive. Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an official condemnation targeting Moscow's organization of the vote and the conduct of polling on sovereign Ukrainian territory.