Russia: Kremlin party dominates controlled vote

Preliminary exit polls indicate Russia's ruling United Russia party is leading the State Duma elections with 49.4% of the vote, according to a survey conducted by the state-run All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM). The Communist Party (CPRF) follows closely in second place with 14.2%, while the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) holds 10.7%.

New People secured 9.7% of the vote, and A Just Russia received 6.6%. Both exit polls had the Pensioners' Party receiving over 3% of the vote, though this threshold does not guarantee seats in the State Duma. These parties become eligible for state funding upon reaching the 3% mark. Voter turnout reached 56.66% as of 8:55 p.m. Moscow time on Sunday, surpassing the turnout in the previous two State Duma elections.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) reported that 3.3 million Russians cast their ballots online through the federal remote electronic voting (REV) platform, with the Ministry of Digital Development noting an 90.87% turnout on the REV platform. The CEC Chair Ella Pamfilova revealed that United Russia received 49.06% of the vote in remote electronic voting, with New People at 15.42% and the CPRF at 12.26%.

Exit polls from polling stations outside Russia paint a different picture, with New People leading the foreign surveys at 48.3%, followed by the CPRF at 19% and United Russia at 2.3%. The CEC intends to release preliminary results at 11 a.m. Moscow time on Sept. 21, with the final results expected no earlier than Sept. 25. As vote counting commenced, early CEC figures showed United Russia with 57.5% after processing 13.88% of the protocols.