Russia holds first State Duma election since full-scale invasion of Ukraine, ruling party keeps majority
United Russia has won the State Duma election with about 57% of the vote, while the vote took place amid a massive drone attack on Moscow and complaints of violations against election observers.
Voting has concluded in Russia's State Duma election, the first since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to Central Election Commission figures from late on September 20, with nearly 37% of precincts counted, United Russia had won 57.19% of the vote. The Communist Party placed second with 13.85%, the Liberal Democratic Party third with 9.16%, and New People fourth with 8.01%. A Just Russia also cleared the 5% threshold needed for seats in parliament. Ten parties took part after the Supreme Court removed Yabloko from the ballot. Final results are expected by September 25.
United Russia candidates were leading in 161 of 225 single-mandate districts. Turnout exceeded 56%, the highest for a Duma election since 1993. More than 3.6 million of the roughly 4 million registered electronic voters cast ballots, though voting online from abroad was impossible throughout the three days due to outages on the state services portal.
Attack on Moscow and voting problems
During the vote, Russian officials reported a large-scale drone attack on Moscow and accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt the election. Officials said roughly 450 drones were shot down approaching the capital overnight, but the attack still sparked a fire at the Moscow oil refinery in Kapotnya, damaged residential buildings, and killed three people in the Moscow region.
An opposition call to protest by voting at noon drew a smaller turnout than a similar action in 2024. In Moscow, several polling stations were unable to issue paper ballots for hours due to problems with the electronic voter roll, causing long lines. The Central Election Commission reported 100 million cyberattacks on election infrastructure, an 8,300% increase from 2024. Observers reported being barred from polling stations and facing attempts at bribery or provocation.
