"United Russia" wins a record number of seats in Russia's State Duma - Russian media

The "United Russia" party is securing a "constitutional majority" in the Russian parliament and the largest faction in the State Duma of the Russian Federation in its history — about 355 of 450 seats. Russian media are reporting these preliminary election results announced by Russia’s Central Election Commission, UNN writes.

Details

After 95% of the protocols had been counted, "United Russia" had won 57.83% of the vote on party lists. In single-member constituencies, the party’s candidates are leading in 209 of 225 constituencies.

As the Russian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty notes, the party’s final result may amount to between 348 and 356 seats. This would be the largest faction of "United Russia" in the party’s history.

Russian media also report that "United Russia" announced that it had elected 86 participants in the war against Ukraine to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, but later "clarified" that there were 49. They could have formed the second-largest faction in the new legislature, the Russian service of the BBC notes.

The Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation plans to announce the final results no earlier than September 25 — additional time has been provided to consider possible complaints.

The "elections" took place amid criticism over the absence of genuine political competition. The federal list of "Yabloko" — the only registered party that openly opposed the war — was removed from the elections by Russia’s Supreme Court.

Russia also did not invite OSCE observers. OSCE PA President Pere Joan Pons called the absence of independent international observation a violation of Russia’s commitments and part of an "alarming trend" of rejecting transparency and democratic accountability.

During the voting, "Yabloko" and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation reported that observers had been denied access to polling stations and removed from them. There were also reports of sealed ballot boxes being opened, problems with issuing paper ballots, and the inability to verify certain turnout data.

By the evening of September 20, the "Elections 2026 — Let’s Observe Together!" platform had counted more than 900 complaints submitted to election commissions, about one-third of which concerned observers’ rights. At the same time, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Interior Ministry of Russia stated that they had recorded no serious violations capable of affecting the conduct of the elections.

Ukraine’s reaction

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine issued a statement, noting that Russia’s holding, from September 18–20, of so-called elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine is a farce staged by the occupying state, has nothing to do with democratic elections, and creates no legal grounds for extending Russia’s jurisdiction to any part of Ukraine’s territory.

"No ‘vote’ organized by Russia at gunpoint changes the internationally recognized status of these territories. Temporary occupation does not confer sovereign rights on the occupying state. Ukraine recognizes neither the holding of these illegal ‘elections’ nor their null and void results. We call on foreign states, international organizations, and other subjects of international law likewise not to recognize these actions by Russia or regard them as an expression of the legitimate political will of people in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. We warn against any participation in this illegal undertaking, which will have legal consequences in national and international jurisdictions," the statement says.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized: "Any ‘elections’ in modern Russia are merely a farce. After more than a quarter-century of Putin’s rule, democracy, freedom of speech, political-party pluralism, and any respect for basic civil liberties are absent in this country."

"We call on the international community to call things by their proper names: the so-called ‘elections’ to the State Duma of the Russian Federation are merely a performance designed to create the illusion that the population supports the aggressive policy of the regime in Moscow," the statement says.