United Russia Wins Record Seats in First Wartime Election

The ruling United Russia party won a record 349 of 450 seats in the State Duma, according to final results released by the Central Election Commission on September 25. This victory surpasses the party's 2016 record and grants the Kremlin a commanding supermajority in Russia's first parliamentary election since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Other seats were distributed among the Communist Party (37), the Liberal Democratic Party (23), New People (19), and A Just Russia (17), with 46 seats secured by war veterans.

President Vladimir Putin framed the results as a show of public support for his policies and national unity. However, the process was widely condemned as a sham by the European Union and a coalition including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway. These nations specifically denounced the inclusion of voters in Crimea and the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia as a gross violation of international law. Domestic opposition was severely limited after the Supreme Court of Russia barred the anti-war Yabloko party from the federal ballot.

The election period was marked by significant violence and disruption. Ukraine launched massive aerial assaults, including a record-breaking drone barrage on Moscow that damaged an oil refinery and residential buildings. Russian officials reported that these strikes killed at least six poll workers nationwide and damaged 75 polling stations. Simultaneously, the Central Election Commission reported thwarting over 100 million cyber threats and thousands of DDoS attacks targeting electronic voting infrastructure. Russia retaliated with drone and missile strikes across Ukraine, including targets in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia.