President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia secured 355 of 450 State Duma seats, giving the ruling party its largest parliamentary delegation on record following a three-day election conducted amid the war in Ukraine and restrictions on anti-war opposition.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.

President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party secured a record 355 seats in Russia’s 450-member State Duma, according to preliminary results announced Monday, expanding its constitutional supermajority in the country’s first parliamentary election since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova announced the result after nearly all ballots from the Sept. 18-20 election had been counted. United Russia’s 355 seats surpass the party’s previous parliamentary record of 343, set in 2016. A constitutional majority requires at least 301 seats.

The preliminary count put United Russia at nearly 58% of the party-list vote. The Communist Party finished second and was projected to receive 40 seats, followed by the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party with 25 and New People with 20.

The result leaves United Russia with enough seats to approve constitutional changes without support from other parliamentary factions, provided its lawmakers vote together.

The Kremlin portrayed the outcome as evidence of public support for Putin during the continuing war.

“These indicators, of course, point to the highest level of consolidation within Russian society around the head of state,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a briefing with reporters.

Putin has led Russia as president or prime minister since Dec. 31, 1999, and United Russia has dominated the country’s parliamentary politics for roughly a quarter-century.

The election was conducted under significant restrictions on political opposition. Yabloko, the registered party that had called for an end to the war in Ukraine, was excluded from the ballot, while many prominent Putin opponents are imprisoned, living abroad or dead. International observers were also absent from the vote.

Alexei Navalny, one of Putin’s most prominent longtime opponents, died in an Arctic penal colony in February 2024.

Russian authorities also organized voting in Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow, a practice rejected by Ukraine and Western governments that do not recognize Russia’s annexation claims over those regions.

Official turnout reached 59.32%, up from 51.7% in the 2021 parliamentary election, according to the Central Election Commission.

Pamfilova thanked Russians for participating despite what she described as “psychological pressure on Russia.”

The three-day voting period ended Sunday as the war reached Moscow on an unprecedented scale.

Ukraine launched its largest drone assault of the war against the Russian capital and surrounding region on the final day of voting. Russian authorities said hundreds of drones were directed toward Moscow, with the attack killing at least two people and setting an oil refinery on fire.

“Despite the extreme situation, we were successful in ensuring the maximum security of these elections,” Pamfilova said, thanking Russian security agencies for keeping voting underway.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has now continued into its fifth year, killing large numbers of military personnel and civilians, displacing millions of people and severing much of Moscow’s political and economic relationship with Western governments.

Inside Russia, authorities have imposed extensive restrictions on public criticism of the military campaign. The parliamentary election therefore did not offer voters a major registered party campaigning on a platform of ending the war.

Speculation has also persisted over whether the Kremlin could order another military mobilization after the election.

Putin has denied that another mobilization is planned. Ukrainian authorities, however, have accused Moscow of preparing another call-up, a claim Russia disputes. The parliamentary result itself does not establish whether such a mobilization will occur.

Regional elections were held alongside the State Duma vote in parts of Russia.

In Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov was declared the winner of another term as regional leader with 99.85% of the vote, according to Russia’s Central Election Commission. Kadyrov, a close Putin ally, has governed the predominantly Muslim republic for years and has strongly supported Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.

Kadyrov’s administration has faced longstanding allegations from international human rights organizations involving repression, extrajudicial violence and other abuses. His government has rejected allegations of wrongdoing.

The election results drew immediate criticism from the European Union.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas referred to Russia’s vote as a “so-called” election and cited the exclusion of anti-war opposition, the absence of international monitors and voting conducted in occupied Ukrainian territory.

“The Kremlin silenced dissent, barred the only registered party that opposed its war in Ukraine, and shut out international election monitors. The veneer of democracy is all that remains in Russia,” Kallas said.

Russian officials have rejected Western criticism of the country’s electoral system and maintain that the election reflected the preferences of Russian voters.

With 355 seats, United Russia will enter the new Duma with its largest parliamentary faction since the party became the dominant force in Russian politics, leaving Putin’s governing party comfortably above the threshold needed to pass ordinary legislation and amend the constitution.

Original article