Putin-backing United Russia party is predicted crushing victory with almost 60% of the vote in country's parliamentary elections, early counts say
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By PATRICK HARRINGTON, UK NEWS REPORTER and WILL STEWART
Published: | Updated:
Russia's ruling party that supports Vladimir Putin is set for a landslide victory in the country's first wartime parliamentary elections, widely regarded as a 'sham'.
The pro-war United Russia party is projected by early counting to take around 58 per cent of the vote, with its closest rival the Communist Party on track for just 14 per cent.
Polls closed to the 111 million-strong electorate on Sunday just hours after Ukraine fired more than 1,000 drones into Russia, including an 'unprecedented' number at the capital Moscow.
Voting stretched to Russian-held areas of Ukraine, prompting Kyiv to urge foreign governments against recognising the outcome.
Putin was not on the ballot paper because these elections were for the state Duma – Russia's parliament – rather than the presidential seat. He is also not a member of United Russia, but he served as its leader between 2008 and 2012.
The current leader is Putin's ally, former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev. He has already vowed to implement the dictator's will in the new parliament.
The result of the election – which ran across three days at a turnout of 56 per cent – was never truly in doubt because the Kremlin exerts tight control over the voting process.
They are broadly similar to the results of the last election in 2021, despite growing unease over the war among civilians.
Members of a local electoral commission empty a ballot box to count the votes
Plumes of smoke rise from fires at an oil refinery on Sunday after what the Russians says was Ukraine's largest attack on Moscow
The ruling party loyal to Vladimir Putin looks set for a landslide victory
Russian elections have for decades been marred by corruption allegations, and this year's was no different.
Evidence emerged that some ballots had been pre-marked to force votes of United Russia. There were also reports of ballot stuffing, where a voter casts more than their one permitted paper.
Credible opposition is virtually non-existent in Russia, with critics of the current regime barred, jailed or exiled – particularly if they begin to gain political traction.
Human rights groups estimate more than 2,000 people are currently locked up for political reasons.
Russia's only overtly anti-war party Yabloko – meaning Apple – had been banned from standing to prevent any criticism of Putin's military policy, but some of its candidates contested individual constituencies.
Voting was also organised in war-torn regions of Ukraine that have been invaded by Russia since the outbreak of war in February 2022.
In the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, election officials reported a 82 per cent, with similarly high figure in the Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
The European Union on Friday called the action a 'blatant violation of international law'.
Russia's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) head Ella Pamfilova speaking after the polls closed
Votes are emptied from a ballot box by a local electoral commission ahead of counting
The weekend brought Ukraine's largest attack on Moscow since the outbreak of the war, which officials branded an attempt to sabotage the election.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russia had downed more than 1,600 drones since Saturday night, including 450 that were headed for the capital.
But some did hit their mark, with explosions at the Moscow Oil Refinery, and one impact on an apartment block.
Sobyanin said: 'The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The adversary failed to achieve this.'
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