Russia’s ruling United Russia party has preserved its majority in parliament, election officials announced Monday, following a tightly managed vote that shut out most opposition contenders and reinforced the Kremlin’s hold on political power.
With results counted from more than 95% of polling stations, United Russia had secured just under 58% of the party-list vote, which determines 225 of the State Duma’s 450 seats, according to the Central Election Commission. In the other 225 single-ballot contests, United Russia candidates were ahead in 208 races.
Commission Chair Ella Pamfilova said the preliminary count pointed to United Russia winning 355 seats in total.
The election was the first parliamentary vote since President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It also marked the first time residents of four Ukrainian regions seized and illegally annexed by Moscow later that year were included in the voting. Balloting was also conducted in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Ukraine condemned the elections in all of those territories as illegitimate.
In the months before the vote, the Kremlin intensified its campaign against political opponents. Authorities barred Russia’s only liberal, anti-war party from the party-list ballot, permitting it to run only in single-ballot constituencies.
Other parties that routinely support Kremlin-backed measures also won representation in the State Duma, the lower chamber of parliament.
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