Wahl in Russland: Putins Kriegsparlament: Kremlpartei zur Wahlsiegerin erklärt

Following the parliamentary election in Russia, President Vladimir Putin's pro-Kremlin United Russia party is likely to maintain its status as the ruling party with a two-thirds majority. According to Interfax and the Kremlin-critical newspaper Nowaja Gaseta, United Russia secured 309 out of 450 seats in the State Duma after tallying over half of the votes cast.

The party also received nine more seats than needed to amend the constitution. Putin is expected to view the election as a clear signal for continuing the full invasion in Ukraine. Kremlin critics, however, called the vote a farce. Independent experts, the opposition in exile, and even Kremlin-friendly Communists, led by Gennadi Sjuganow, accused the Russian electoral authorities of falsifying the results.

Due to the exclusion of genuine opposition and the lack of press and media freedom, the elections were criticized as neither democratic nor fair. The electoral authorities reported that United Russia received 57.9 percent of the votes, with direct mandates adding to the total. Prognostications had placed the party at under 50 percent.

In the 2021 Duma vote, the party received 49.8 percent of the votes. The Communist Party came in second with 13.8 percent, the ultra-nationalist LDPR was third with 8.8 percent, and the liberal popular party Nowyje Ljudi (New People) was fourth with 7.9 percent. Only the party for Justice (5.1 percent) managed to surpass the five-percent threshold.

The Communist Party had received 18.9 percent of the votes in the previous election, LDPR 7.5 percent, United Russia 7.4 percent, and Nowyje Ljudi 5.3 percent. All parties on the ballot are considered pro-Kremlin and have supported Putin's war against Ukraine since 2022. United Russia is now bringing war veterans into the parliament, and after four and a half years of the invasion, the election participation surged to the highest level in 15 years, driven by a massive economic crisis, war fatigue, and public dissatisfaction with the country's situation.

In Moscow, Chief of the Kremlin Party and former President Dmitri Medvedev celebrated the results as a great success, claiming that the opposition tried to sabotage the elections but failed. He stated that the attacks on the online voting system, and the Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian targets, led people to cast their votes despite the difficult circumstances.

Medvedev said that this was the most important result. Putin's associate, VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL, noted that the ruling party would be able to implement the most complex and urgent decisions. He did not specify any details. For several months, there have been speculations about a new mobilization in Russia.

Medvedev and Putin categorically rejected such fears. Expert Alexander Morosow, a Kremlin critic, believes that Putin capitalized on the crisis to present himself as the leader of a war bureaucracy. He expects repression to increase in Russia and for Putin to use the election results as justification to run for the presidency in 2030, provided he can show a victory in the war against Ukraine first.

The new parliament is a "Duma of War" or "a bloody Duma," said Morosow. The Kremlin is forming a Duma for the final destruction of Ukraine. So far, the parliament has had about a fifth of hardliners, but in the future, war mongers will make up half of it. The Russians actually care about ending the war, but they do not want their living conditions to worsen and institutions like banks to continue to function reliably.

Kremlin opponents accused the party of stealing votes, accusing many Russians of wanting peace with Ukraine and opposing Putin and his party. The electoral authority is expected to announce the preliminary final result on Monday at 11:00 AM local time (10:00 AM CET). Voting was open from Friday to Sunday, with over 110 million Russians invited to participate.