Russia Votes in First Duma Election Since Ukraine War

Russia will hold parliamentary elections from September 18 to 20, the first since it launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022. Voters will choose all 450 members of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, for five-year terms.

Half of the seats are filled through a nationwide party-list vote, while the remaining 225 are decided in single-seat constituencies. The ruling United Russia party, backed by President Vladimir Putin, is widely expected to retain its dominance. A survey by state pollster VTsIOM at the end of August put United Russia at 37% support, far ahead of the Communist Party at 11.6%.

Attention will centre on the scale of United Russia's win. The party currently holds 310 seats and needs at least 300 to preserve its supermajority, which allows it to push through constitutional changes without support from other parties.

The four other parties expected to enter the Duma, including the Communist Party and the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, broadly support the war and tend to vote with United Russia on key issues. The Supreme Court has barred the liberal Yabloko party from the party-list ballot, sidelining the only registered political party opposed to the war. Some Yabloko candidates are still contesting single-seat constituencies, but they appear unlikely to win seats. Several other opposition figures have been excluded after being designated "foreign agents."

Independent scrutiny of the vote has narrowed. Golos, the only nationwide election watchdog, closed in 2025 after years of pressure from the authorities. Moscow has not invited international monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The OSCE said the decision reflected a pattern of disregard for transparency, democratic accountability and the rule of law, and noted that Russia's political system has grown more restrictive since the 2021 parliamentary vote, citing the exclusion of candidates labelled "foreign agents" and tighter limits on campaign financing.

Russian authorities have rejected criticism of the electoral process, saying voting is conducted in accordance with the law, and have accused Western adversaries of trying to undermine and disrupt the election.

Voting is also taking place in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and in Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Authorities said polling started early in some areas for security reasons.