Russia: Putin party retains majority in controlled parliamentary vote

Russia's ruling United Russia party secured a majority in the country's parliamentary election, according to the Central Election Commission. This marks the first parliamentary poll since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which President Vladimir Putin has presented as a referendum of support for his "special military operation."

The election was characterized by the absence of opposition parties, with only those aligned with Putin and the Kremlin's war in Ukraine permitted to participate. The Central Election Commission reported that with 95% of ballots counted, United Russia had won 57.83% of the vote. Commission chair Ella Pamfilova revealed that United Russia would secure 355 seats in the 450-seat Duma, a slight increase from their current count, representing the party's strongest performance in its history.

This election was the first to include residents of four regions in Ukraine - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia - that were annexed by Russia in 2022. Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, also participated in the voting. Kyiv has denounced the elections in these regions as illegal. Additionally, the commission announced that Ramzan Kadyrov, a close Putin ally and leader of Chechnya, a Russian republic in the North Caucasus, has been re-elected to a fifth term.

Kadyrov achieved 99.85% of the vote, a marginal improvement from his 99.73% in 2021. Despite the high percentage, international observers have criticized the electoral processes in Chechnya for widespread rights violations, including targeting journalists and homosexuals, all of which Kadyrov denies.