Russia’s State Duma elections begin with record online turnout, a million votes in occupied Donetsk, and attempts to bribe observers

Electronic voting machines in Moscow faced technical issues on the first day of the State Duma elections. The government services website, Gosuslugi, required for logging in to cast online ballots, experienced widespread outages. As a result, online voting surged, with the number of online votes reaching 100 times the volume of the 2021 State Duma election just 24 hours later.

Polling stations recorded no in-person turnout by noon. Some Moscow residents preferred electronic voting, while others declined to participate, asserting that voting must be done electronically.

The Moscow City Election Commission attributed the online voting backlog to system attacks rather than voter pressure. Russian President Vladimir Putin also participated in the online voting process, reportedly engaging with a monitor and exclaiming "Thank you" to the computer.

Public sector workers faced pressure to vote online or risk being fired. In the Moscow region, the first online vote occurred just 38 seconds after the system launched. In the Novosibirsk region, the first vote followed 41 seconds after the system went live, and in Chuvashia, it was 45 seconds later. Teachers were even required to report on their own and their students' (parents') turnout every two hours.

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic claimed a record-breaking 75% of its voters cast ballots early, a claim that seemed improbable, even considering the violent intimidation tactics employed during the election. In Moscow, Green Party candidate Yulia Kuznetsova reportedly went missing, suspected of being detained. Nearly 1,300 observers from the KPRF and the Russian liberal party Yabloko were barred from polling stations across Russia.

In Ufa, observers were offered vodka upon arrival, leading to immediate expulsion. In Chuvashia, observers were allegedly bribed to avoid polling stations. In Shchyolkovo, "observers watching the observers" were present. Tyumen restricted the sale of antiseptic green dye and iodine, likely in response to a similar incident during the 2024 presidential election. The Kirov region postponed regional legislature elections for a year after the election commission failed to include two candidates on the ballot.

Despite the numerous challenges, turnout had already surpassed 20% according to the Central Election Commission. This report is being updated continuously. Meduza maintains transparency regarding its use of artificial intelligence in news reporting, with editors reviewing every draft before publication. For feedback or to report errors, contact reports@meduza.io.