United News of Bangladesh

Russia's parliamentary election features President Vladimir Putin's main political vehicle, United Russia, along with nine other parties that broadly support his policies. The only registered party that openly opposed the war in Ukraine has been removed from the ballot. The lack of a significant opposition force is expected to allow the Kremlin to maintain its strong control over Russian politics as the economy faces growing pressure and Ukrainian attacks increasingly target oil refineries and online retailers. Those drone strikes have brought the effects of the war closer to ordinary Russians more than 4½ years after the conflict began. The Kremlin wants the election the first parliamentary vote since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — to demonstrate public support for the war and give its actions an appearance of legitimacy. Authorities have also moved to prevent even limited signs of political dissent. Three days of voting Voting will take place from Friday through Sunday, with Russians electing members of the lower house, the State Duma, as well as officials in local elections. Voters in 11 regions will choose governors, while 39 regions will elect members of regional legislatures. The three-day voting period is intended in part to encourage turnout among about 111 million eligible voters. It also includes territories in Ukraine that Russia illegally annexed. Electronic voting is available. Of the Duma's 450 seats, half will be allocated through party lists and the other half through single-member constituencies. United Russia is expected to retain its dominant position, while other parties that make up Russia's so-called "systemic opposition" are also expected to remain in parliament. These parties generally support the government on major issues. The liberal Yabloko Party, the only registered political party to oppose the war, was initially included on the ballot. However, Russia's Supreme Court ordered in August that it be removed, citing several reasons, including the argument that its anti-war position amounted to seeking a violation of Russia's territorial integrity. Yabloko can now field candidates only in single-member races. United Russia dominates the Duma United Russia, whose symbol is a bear beneath the Russian tricolor, won more than two-thirds of the Duma's seats in the 2021 election and is again expected to dominate the chamber. Despite growing public fatigue, an economic downturn and stagnant living standards, the party's control over the political system and the extensive state propaganda apparatus make another strong showing likely. Its candidate list is headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, 76, who has served as Russia's top diplomat for 22 years, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, 68. In an apparent effort to bring newer faces into a party often associated with government officials, war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny is ranked No. 3 on the list. He was seriously wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack. United Russia members have pledged to support Russia's war effort and Putin's stated goals in Ukraine, which the Kremlin calls a "special military operation." Sobyanin, however, has rejected calls from Russian hard-liners for a wider mobilization of conscripts and for placing the entire economy on a wartime footing. "To destroy a normal economy is to destroy the country altogether," he said, reflecting the Kremlin's preference for pursuing the war without a broad and potentially unpopular mobilization. Communists support Putin's main policies The Communist Party has remained an important force in parliament since the 1990s. It has been led for more than three decades by 82-year-old Gennady Zyuganov, a former Soviet official. During Putin's more than 25 years in power, the Communists have criticized some government policies but have largely avoided direct criticism of Putin himself. The party strongly supports the war in Ukraine. "We strictly adhere to President Putin's directives," Zyuganov said last month while overseeing a shipment of military supplies. The party has also increased its presence on social media as it seeks to attract younger voters instead of relying mainly on its traditional older supporters. Liberal Democrats have a new leader Despite its name, the Liberal Democratic Party is an ultranationalist political force that has held a significant parliamentary presence since the early 1990s. It was founded by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a prominent nationalist who frequently called for restoring former Soviet territories and at times threatened Russia's enemies with nuclear weapons. After Zhirinovsky died in 2022, the party came under the leadership of Leonid Slutsky, a former professor who faced sexual harassment allegations. Like the Communists, the LDPR strongly supports the war and includes several war veterans among its members. One of its candidates is Viktor Bout, a former arms dealer known as the "Merchant of Death." Bout was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the US before being exchanged in December 2022 for WNBA player Brittney Griner, who had been arrested in Moscow 10 months earlier for possessing cannabis oil. Smaller parties complete the ballot A Just Russia has been part of Russia's political system for about two decades. The social-democratic party competes with the Communists for older and middle-aged voters who have nostalgia for the Soviet era and supports the war in Ukraine. Its leader, 73-year-old Sergei Mironov, previously drew attention after displaying a sledgehammer given to him by late Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin shortly before Prigozhin's failed 2023 mutiny. Wagner fighters were reported to have used sledgehammers to kill people they considered traitors. The New People Party was formed shortly before the 2021 parliamentary election. It initially sought to present itself as a liberal alternative representing younger voters and technocrats. The party won slightly more than 5% of the vote, allowing it to establish a small parliamentary faction. But after the election, it adopted Putin's policies, disappointing some of its supporters. Led by cosmetics company executive Alexei Nechayev, the party has been widely viewed as a Kremlin-friendly project aimed at attracting liberal voters while maintaining the appearance of political competition. Other parties competing for seats include the Communists of Russia, a smaller rival to the main Communist Party; the Party of Pensioners; the Green Party; the Party of Direct Democracy; and the Motherland Party. Motherland is a hard-line nationalist party that has undergone several changes in its structure and leadership since it was founded in the early 2000s. It is led by Alexei Zhuravlev, who holds the party's only Duma seat and is known for strongly criticizing the West on Russian state television. Zhuravlev was also the politician who appealed to the Supreme Court seeking to remove Yabloko from the ballot.