This is the first parliamentary election in Russia since the military operation in Ukraine in 2022. And United Russia led by Vladimir Putin got a big victory in that election. The opposition became virtually unimportant.
According to Russian media reports, more than 95 percent of the votes have been counted so far. Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia's Central Election Commission, said Putin-led United Russia won with 57.83 percent of the vote. Communist Party is in second place. They got 13.81 percent votes. On the other hand, the ultra-nationalist LDPR came in third with 8.98 percent of the vote. The New People's Party is in fourth place. They got 7.96 percent votes.
The total number of seats in the Russian parliament is 450. Of these, 225 seats are in the Russian Legislative Assembly. Remaining 225 seats are spread across other regions. The number of valid voters in the country is about 11 crore. Voting took place from last Friday to Sunday. The total vote was 56.66 percent. Originally voting was by ballot, but Russian citizens living abroad voted electronically.
The whole world was curious about this first parliamentary election held in Russia after the start of the Ukraine war. For the Kremlin, this election was not only an election of MPs, but also a means of sending a message to the world. After the election results, it is clear that the Russian people are with Putin. Supporting his policies. Experts like that. The Ukraine war had no impact on the election.
Needless to say, parties such as the Communist Party, LDPR, A Just Russia and New People are not considered strong opposition parties. Rather, they stand by the government on important issues. The only adversary among them is the Yabloko party, which openly opposes the war in Ukraine. The party called for a negotiated end to the war. However, the Russian Supreme Court banned the party from the elections in August.
This election is the first time voting is being held in the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine. Voting took place in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. However, this action of Russia was strongly opposed by the international community. Ukraine and the European Union also declared Russia's vote illegal. But after all that, the Putin-citadel remained intact in Moscow.