Greetings from North America. In this newsletter, we turn our attention to Russia’s parliamentary elections. United Russia, the ruling party, solidified its control this week despite contention from opposition groups. After the government reviewed the results from the September 18–20 vote, it confirmed its victory on September 25. The outcome secured a record-breaking supermajority government, a suspected result given President Vladimir Putin’s 26-year grip on power.

The elections were held over three days, and even involved Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine. These are the first parliamentary votes cast since the start of the Ukraine war, and politicians critical of Putin’s policies faced harsh backlash from the government. This resulted in a narrower variety of candidates, with the number of party lists nominated dropping by more than a quarter over the last five years.

Many analysts believe that United Russia held the election to display public support and legitimize the war in Ukraine. They achieved this — at least on paper — with little struggle, aided by the unequal representation of political leaders. Nevertheless, opposition candidates continue to push to demonstrate their popularity amongst voters, even when they struggle to make it to the ballot.

Sources:

Putin consolidates grip on Russia as 49 Ukraine war veterans elected to parliament | The Guardian

Russia’s parliamentary election: What you need to know | Reuters

Statement on the Russian election 2026 | Russian Election Monitor

Past elections and observer movements

Contrary to common narratives, election observers have not dismissed every Russian election result as fraudulent. According to the independent, anti-Putin media outlet, Meduza, as many as 12 regions displayed honest election results in 2018. Furthermore, United Russia legitimately secured an honest amount of seats in the Khabarovsk region in the 2021 election.

However, an accurate ballot count in these regions do not make up for the exclusion of citizens’ preferred candidates following Putin’s removal of opposition parties. In the past, the Russian government banned opposition leader Alexei Navalny and legislator Boris Nadezhdin from running. This year, the Kremlin again removed Nadezhdin from the ballot, labeling him a “foreign agent.” These preemptive maneuvers are just one facet of the charade that President Putin uses to simulate legitimacy through rigged elections.

via shutterstock

Putin’s efforts to obscure the electoral process by barring observer groups also concern analysts. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) works to achieve lasting security through protecting democratic practices and human rights. Although the Russian Federation is an OSCE participating state, Putin severely limited election observer access in 2021 and outright excluded the observers from the 2024 regional elections.

One of the most trusted Russian election observers, Golos, also faced trouble. Putin’s government designated Golos a “foreign agent” and banned it in 2025. The organization prepared observer training materials, provided legal support during elections and analyzed election results. Their aim to promote public oversight remained a large part of Russian election discourse since 2000. Still, even without these groups, individual observers can monitor polls and use estimation methods to quantitatively assess the possibility of election fraud.

Sources:

Russia’s elections weren’t always this dishonest. Here’s how the system broke down and why voting can still expose fraud. | Meduza

Russia’s parliamentary election result underscores public support for Kremlin policies, Putin says | Yahoo News Canada

Anti-war Russian candidate blocked from running against Putin in election | CBC News

Russian Federation continues to violate international commitments in a worrying pattern failing to invite OSCE observers to parliamentary elections | OSCE

The Case Against Golos: What It’s About | Golos

‘Shpilkin method’: Statistical tool gauges voter fraud in Putin landslide | France 24

Current election results

In the current election, the United Russia party has once again won the parliamentary elections with about 58% of the vote. What is most striking about the circumstances surrounding this election is the banning of the Yabloko (or “Apple”) party, which is Russia’s oldest liberal party and the only party that is openly anti-war.

The last-minute disqualification of the party, according to the New York Times, suggested that the Kremlin has “belatedly realized” not only how unpopular the war is at home, but also how Yabloko has become a vessel for popular discontent.

Sources:

A liberal party is barred in Russia for implicitly opposing the war | The Economist

Barred From Ballot, a Party Becomes a Vessel for Russians’ Discontent | New York Times

Were the results really predictable?

It surprised no one when Putin maintained a majority government after the election. However, there are confusing statistics surrounding the results. Some analysts predict approximately half of the votes attributed to United Russia are fraudulent, and that the party actually only won 34% of the total votes. Stolen votes, banned candidates and varying campaign reception most likely made it easier for Putin to obtain a majority.

The opposition parties that remained on the ballot largely conform to current Russian policies. The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) received 9% of the vote and the Communist Party received about 13.8% of the vote. New People won about 8% and A Fair Russia also passed the 5% threshold according to UNITED24.

Before the vote, Yabloko’s leader advocated against voting for systematic opposition parties like the right-wing LDPR and the Communist Party. Putin removed Yabloko’s federal candidates from the election last month over copyright violations, though they won seats in the legislative assembly for Novgorod Regional Duma. As the only region where Yabloko candidates remained on the ballot, the party received 6.2% of the vote there.

The Russian Election Monitor notes authorities disqualified Yabloko out of fear of losing control. The party’s chair was sentenced to 11 years in prison as a result. Unsurprisingly, the government’s pattern of containing opposition parties continues despite the wide variety of public opinions.

Sources:

The percentages of parties became dependent on the level of elections | Nezavisimaya Gazeta (NG)

Statement on the Russian election 2026 | Russian Election Monitor

Putin consolidates grip on Russia as 49 Ukraine war veterans elected to parliament | The Guardian

Statistical Model Shows Putin’s Party Won Just 34% of Real Vote in Russian Elections | UNITED24 Media

With United Russia’s Election Victory All But Certain, Some Russians Are Still Pushing Back | The Moscow Times

Russian Supreme Court Bars Yabloko Party From State Duma Elections | The Moscow Times

Russia’s antiwar Yabloko party was barred from seven of eight regional races. In the one where it made the ballot, it’s set to enter the regional legislature. | Meduza

An electoral autocracy

Putin’s system of rule is often referred to as a system of managed democracy. This describes Putin’s use of staged parliamentary elections (especially during the 2026 election cycle), as well as outright repression and the manipulation of information. According to The New York Times , faked elections serve to benefit the interests of Putin and United Russia by bolstering his perceived legitimacy among the Russian public. 

Ballot-box stuffing is a time-tested tactic of Putin’s style of autocratic governance. According to a recent piece by the Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, teachers in the Russian city of Belgorod were “pressured into casting ballots on behalf of other people” on the first day of voting.

Evidence of ballot stuffing has also been caught on camera on many occasions in recent years. In 2018, Putin also won an overwhelming share of the vote in an election which was tainted by extensive ballot box stuffing. These methods continue to be used in the 2026 election, as observers caught a ballot-stuffing incident at the polling station in Mari El on a livestream. Evidence of fraud, however, did not stop the government from continuing its theatre of managed democracy.

Sources:

Rosenberg: Russia’s elections will have few surprises, but for the Kremlin they matter | BBC

Why Autocrats Care What People Think | The New York Times

Ballot-stuffing reported in Russia’s Belgorod as early voting begins in some regions | Novaya Gazeta Europe

Russian election: Putin heads to big win in a vote tainted by fraud | CBS News

Statement on the Russian election 2026 | Russian Election Monitor  

Russia’s leadership remains unchanged

A prominent Russian political scientist pointed out that Russian authorities were so sensitive to public concerns that they issued subsidies and postponed unpopular policies before the election. This alone does not indicate the government’s assurance of an unmitigated dialogue between citizens and authorities, as the author portrays. Putin purged many opposition candidates prior to commencing the vote and evidence continues to mount, displaying the government’s carelessness to its citizens’ political choice.

Putin’s actions show that leadership in Russia will remain structurally unchanged regardless of the demand for societal renewal in the country. Given the many volatile factors at play, it is clearly difficult to determine real election statistics in the world’s largest country. Yet, considering the upward trajectory of fraud in past elections, encouraging the facilitation of democratic practices and fair elections is more critical than ever.

Sources:

Russia’s elections are more than political theatre | Al Jazeera

These were the most dishonest elections in Russian history. | Meduza

Aliyah A. Omar, Alexandros Ouzounis

Assistant Editor