🔸 Expansion of the majority of the "United Russia" party in Russia’s parliamentary elections

Russia’s parliamentary elections were held from Friday, September 18, to Sunday, September 20 (September 27 to September 29). This was the country’s first parliamentary election since the start of Moscow’s aggressive war against Ukraine in 2022.

According to Russia’s Central Election Commission, the "United Russia" party—close to Vladimir Putin, the country’s president—secured about 57.8% of the vote after counting more than 95% of the ballots.

With this result, the "United Russia" party increased its majority in the State Duma and is on track to win 355 seats out of 450 in the Duma.

Meanwhile, Russia’s election commission announced voter turnout at about 59%. Based on preliminary results, the Communist Party of Russia, with about 13.8%, is in second place.

After that come the nationalist right-wing LDPR party and the "New People" party. Interfax, citing the head of the election commission, reported that these four parties received the highest share of the announced votes.

Some Kremlin opponents have spoken of a “show” and “fraud.” The anti-war Yabloko party was also not allowed to participate in the nationwide elections.

This, along with the support of the parties present in the Duma for the Kremlin’s political line, had further limited the competitive environment of the elections.