Russians began three days of voting Friday in the country’s first parliamentary election since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, with virtually no opposition and the Kremlin expected to retain its political dominance.
The authorities have spread voting over the weekend in an effort to increase turnout among the 111 million eligible voters and have also allowed electronic voting. Polling began Friday and will continue until Sunday.
The Kremlin seeks to use the parliamentary election to demonstrate public support for the war and lend legitimacy to its actions. At the same time, it has moved to eliminate political risks by suppressing even limited signs of dissent.
“Your choice and resolve will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our fighters, that we are a united people, bound by shared values, historical memory, and love for the Motherland,” President Vladimir Putin told the nation ahead of the vote.
The Kremlin’s main political party, United Russia, is virtually certain to maintain its dominant position in the lower house, the State Duma. Several smaller parties considered part of the “systemic opposition,” which generally support the government on key issues, are also expected to retain their seats.
Voters are casting two separate ballots. Half of the Duma’s 450 seats will be filled through party-list voting, while the remaining seats are being contested in single-member constituencies, where voters choose individual candidates.
Russia silences anti-war voices
The liberal Yabloko party, the only registered political group that openly criticized the war, was removed from the ballot by Russia’s Supreme Court last month. It has only a few dozen candidates running in single-member constituencies.
Several anti-war politicians have also been jailed or forced to leave the country ahead of the campaign.
The election comes after a summer of Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian oil refineries that caused a widespread fuel crisis. Warehouses belonging to online retailers Wildberries and Ozon were also attacked.
The damage has deepened economic problems in Russia and brought the effects of the war closer to millions of people.
For the first time, the parliamentary election includes residents of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow annexed after the war began. Voting is also taking place in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.
Authorities in Kyiv condemned the voting in Russian-controlled areas as illegal and called on foreign governments and international organizations not to recognize the election. They also warned Ukrainians that participating in organizing the voting could lead to criminal liability.