Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party has secured a significant constitutional majority in the Russian State Duma, capturing 355 of the 450 available seats. The preliminary results were announced on Monday by Ella Pamfilova, the chief of the Central Election Commission, following the conclusion of a three-day voting period that ended on Sunday.
This outcome marks an increase from the 343 seats the party held following the 2016 election. With more than 95 percent of ballots processed, United Russia achieved 57.83 percent of the party-list vote, a notable rise from the 49.82 percent recorded in 2021. Additionally, Pamfilova noted that the party’s candidates led in 208 of the 225 single-member constituencies.
Voter turnout for the election reached approximately 59.32 percent, an increase from the 51.72 percent reported in 2021. More than 111 million voters were eligible to cast ballots at polling stations or through remote electronic voting systems. The State Duma uses a mixed electoral system, with 225 seats determined by the nationwide party-list vote and the remaining 225 through single-member constituencies. A constitutional majority requires a minimum of 301 seats.
Other political parties also saw results in the federal party-list vote: the Communist Party secured 13.81 percent, the LDPR received 8.98 percent, and New People obtained 7.96 percent. A Just Russia finished with 4.96 percent, falling just short of the 5 percent threshold required for party-list representation. Ten parties competed in the federal vote, including Rodina, the Communists of Russia, the Greens, the Pensioners’ Party, and the Party of Direct Democracy, though Yabloko was excluded from the federal ballot despite some of its candidates running in single-member districts.
The parliamentary election was the first held in Russia since the full-scale military campaign in Ukraine began in 2022. Voting also occurred in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, an action that has been rejected by Kiev and criticized by several Western governments.
