Main Kremlin party keeps control of Russia’s parliament after a
carefully orchestrated vote
[September 21, 2026]
The main Kremlin party retained its majority in Russia’s parliament,
election officials said Monday, after a carefully orchestrated balloting
that excluded most opposition candidates and helped the government
maintain its tight grip on power.
Results from over 95% of the polling stations gave the Kremlin’s United
Russia party just under 58% of the vote for the 225 seats apportioned by
parties, according to the Central Election Commission. Another 225
lawmakers were chosen in single-ballot races, and the results showed
United Russia candidates leading in 208 of those races.
Central Election Commission chair Ella Pamfilova said the preliminary
results indicated that United Russia would get 355 seats out of 450.
It was the first parliamentary election held since President Vladimir
Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the first
to include residents of four regions of that country that were seized
and illegally annexed by Moscow later that year. Voting also was held in
Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Kyiv denounced
the voting in those regions as illegal.
Crackdown on dissent and tight control of media
The Kremlin tightened its crackdown on opposition ahead of the election,
including barring Russia’s only liberal, anti-war party from the ballot
and allowing it to compete only in single-ballot races.
Along with United Russia, several other parties that almost always vote
for Kremlin initiatives also won seats in the State Duma, the lower
house of parliament.
The Kremlin has sought the parliamentary election to showcase popular
support for the war, and strove to avoid political risks by stamping out
any dissent.
A massive state media campaign and tight control over the election in
the absence of genuine opposition left little doubt that Kremlin will
keep tight control of Russian politics as economic costs rise and
Ukrainian drone attacks increase deep inside the country.
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A voter fills-in a ballot during Russia's parliamentary election in
Donetsk, in the Russian-controlled part of the Donetsk region,
Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)
Voters cast two separate ballots, filling half of the Duma’s 450
seats by selecting political parties listed on the ballot. The rest
were contested in single-seat constituencies, with voters choosing
individual candidates.
Criticism of war was silenced
The liberal Yabloko party, the only registered political entity that
dared to publicly criticize the war, was removed from the ballot
last month by Russia’s Supreme Court, and only has a few dozen
candidates in the single-constituency races. Additionally, some
anti-war politicians were imprisoned or forced to flee abroad ahead
of the campaign.
Yabloko and the Communist Party, which has criticized some aspects
of government policy but carefully avoided any criticism of Putin,
said many of their observers were turned away from polling stations.
Russia didn’t invite observers from the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, with the Russian Foreign Ministry
accusing the body of “double standards” for its criticism of Russia.
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pere Joan Pons said that the
decision was a breach of Russia’s commitments as a member state of
the organization.
At one polling station in the Russian-held part of the Donetsk
region, voters dropped their ballots in a box as an armed Russian
soldier stood nearby and watched.
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