Russia holds three-day parliamentary election under tight state control
Russians are voting over three days to elect all 450 members of the State Duma, Russia's parliament, in the first such election since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Only parties supporting President Putin's military campaign were permitted to stand, while the anti-war Yabloko party was barred from the ballot shortly before voting opened. The election, which opened first in Russia's Far East, serves as a gauge of public sentiment as the war continues.
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Russians began voting on Friday in a three-day election for the 450 seats of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. This is the first parliamentary election since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
Only parties supporting Putin and the Kremlin's military campaign were registered to compete. These include the Communist Party, the nationalist LDPR, A Just Russia, and New People, alongside Putin's dominant United Russia party. The Yabloko party, which had campaigned for an end to the fighting, was disqualified from running shortly before polling began. Russia has also organised voting in territories of Ukraine under its control, a step not recognised internationally.
Voting opened first in Russia's Far East, across the Kamchatka peninsula and Chukotka, before moving westward through the country's multiple time zones. Polls are scheduled to close at 1800 GMT on Sunday. Since criticism of the war remains banned in Russia, observers expect the election to produce few surprises, though it provides the Kremlin with an indication of public opinion as both economic and human costs of the conflict continue to rise.
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