Putin's party wins record supermajority in Russia's parliamentary vote
President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party has won a record supermajority in Russia's parliamentary election, according to near-complete official results released after three days of voting. The result gives the ruling party a strengthened grip on the State Duma and comes as the war with Ukraine continues to shape Russian politics. The vote was the first parliamentary election since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the first to include residents of four Ukrainian regions annexed by Moscow later that year.
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Official figures showed United Russia with more than 58% of the vote, putting it on course to secure more than three quarters of the seats in the lower house. The results were announced on Monday after polling ended on Sunday. Turnout was reported at almost 60%, a level that officials and commentators said would be read in Moscow as a sign of public backing for the government's course.
Ella Pamfilova, who chairs the Central Electoral Commission, said Yabloko, the only registered anti-war party in Russia, did not win any seats at national level. The party had been removed from the ballot last month by the Supreme Court and was left with only a small number of candidates in single-seat races. Yabloko said it won about 12,000 votes in the Novgorod regional parliament race, enough to enter that legislature, while the Communist Party secured 13.8% of the vote and 40 Duma seats.
The result matters because it further consolidates the political position of Putin's party at a time when the war in Ukraine remains costly and unpopular for many Russians. A larger parliamentary majority can make it easier for the Kremlin to pass legislation and maintain political control while the conflict continues. It also comes after an election held under conditions described as tightly orchestrated, with virtually no genuine opposition represented in the national contest.
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The vote also carried significance beyond Russia's borders because it included the four Ukrainian regions seized and annexed by Moscow in 2022. That made it the first parliamentary election since the full-scale invasion and a symbolic test of how the Kremlin is integrating those territories into Russian political structures. The absence of observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also drew criticism, with the body's parliamentary assembly saying Russia's decision to exclude them violated its commitments as a member.
What remains unclear is how the new balance in the Duma will affect policy on the war, domestic politics and relations with the opposition. The Communist Party, the nationalist LDPR and the New People party all won representation, but the scale of United Russia's lead leaves little doubt about the direction of the chamber. The next developments to watch are how the Kremlin uses the result politically and whether any further restrictions on opposition activity follow.
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