Polls close in Russian vote with a near-certain outcome

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Polls have closed in Russia’s tightly controlled parliamentary elections with President Vladimir Putin once again set to cement his dominance over domestic politics.

In the absence of credible opposition, the question is not whether but by how much the United Russia party – which backs Putin – will win, although turnout could give an indication of support for the war in Ukraine.

In the last parliamentary elections, held in 2021 – before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – United Russia took 324 of the 450 seats in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.

Putin is not a member of the party, although he served as its leader between 2008 and 2012.

As the sitting president, Putin was not on the ballot. He is not up for election until 2030, having won the most recent presidential election in 2024 with just under 88.5% of the vote.

Meaningful opposition is effectively nonexistent in Russia, with critics either barred, in jail or exiled abroad. According to the independent human rights monitor OVD-Info, more than 2,000 people are currently in prison for political reasons.

Russia’s only registered anti-war party, Yabloko – “Apple” in Russian – was briefly allowed to take part before being barred by the Supreme Court last month from the federal party-lists election.

Some individual Yabloko candidates were allowed to run in single-seat local districts, even though the Supreme Court banned the party’s main national list. But these candidates faced significant restrictions and pressures. Two of the party’s deputy leaders were recently imprisoned on charges related to their anti-war stances and social media posts.

Yabloko said on Saturday that one of its election observers “lost consciousness” while being detained at a polling station in St. Petersburg. It said numerous other Yabloko observers were barred from polling stations elsewhere.

The outcome of the election is likely to be used by the Kremlin to claim a stronger mandate, saying it illustrates Russians’ support for Putin and what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Ahead of the vote, Putin signaled in a televised speech to the nation that the election results will show Russians are united behind the army.

“Your choice and determination will show once again that millions of people are backing our fighters and that we stand together, united by shared values, our historical memory, love for our Motherland,” Putin said.

Rather than the actual results, observers will likely look at turnout as an indicator of how Russians are feeling about the war and Russia’s political trajectory.

Polls closed on Sunday after three days of voting across Russia’s 11 time zones and at Russian embassies and consulates abroad.

People living in areas of Ukraine that are currently occupied by Russia were also asked to vote, with new constituencies added for Moscow-controlled parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

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Empty podiums, prizes for e-voting, no opposition: Russians head to the polls amid intensifying war in Ukraine

Ukraine rejected the elections taking place in its territory, calling them a “farce.” As the elections unfolded, Russia c ontinued to attack its neighbor . According to Kyiv, Moscow fired hundreds of drones and several missiles against Ukrainian cities over the election period.

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Separately, Kyiv launched one of its largest attacks against Moscow overnight into Sunday. More than 1,500 drones were launched, killing at least two people and damaging a major oil refinery.

After debuting the option during the last election in 2021, online and electronic voting was widely available – and encouraged – this time around. Moscow went as far as offering its residents incentives in the form of points for prizes, if they chose to vote electronically instead of casting a paper ballot.

Some voters in Moscow told the independent Russian news outlet SotaVision they weren’t issued paper ballots because of “malfunctions” and were encouraged to vote via an electronic terminal instead. “They did this on purpose, the b****rds,” one voter told SotaVision.

Critics have long been suspicious of the Kremlin’s introduction of electronic voting because they argue it’s less transparent. Russian authorities reject criticism of their electoral processes and insist elections are held in accordance with the law.

Putin himself opted to vote online, with the Kremlin releasing a video showing him navigating the online system and casting his vote.

Russian state news agency TASS reported outages and malfunctions of the electronic voting system in Moscow on Friday into Saturday, quoting Central Election Commission chair Ella Pamfilova as saying this was due to a “very large-scale and intense” attack.

伊戈尔·伊万科/法新社/盖蒂图片社

俄罗斯议会选举投票结束，总统弗拉基米尔·普京再次巩固了他对国内政治的统治地位。

在缺乏可信的反对派的情况下，问题不在于支持普京的统一俄罗斯党是否会获胜，而在于它会以多大的比分获胜，尽管投票率可以表明民众对乌克兰战争的支持程度。

在 2021 年举行的上一次议会选举中（在俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰之前），统一俄罗斯党在俄罗斯议会下院杜马的 450 个席位中赢得了 324 个席位。

普京不是该党成员，尽管他曾在 2008 年至 2012 年担任该党领导人。

作为现任总统，普京没有出现在选票上。他要到2030年才会再次参加选举，因为他在2024年的最近一次总统选举中以略低于88.5%的得票率获胜。

在俄罗斯，真正意义上的反对派几乎不存在，批评人士要么被禁止入境，要么被监禁，要么流亡国外。据独立人权观察组织OVD-Info称，目前有超过2000人因政治原因被监禁。

俄罗斯唯一注册的反战政党“亚布洛科”（俄语意为“苹果”）曾短暂获准参加联邦政党名单选举，但上个月被最高法院禁止参选。

尽管最高法院禁止了亚博卢党的主要全国候选人名单，但该党仍允许一些个人候选人在单席位地方选区参选。然而，这些候选人面临着诸多限制和压力。该党的两名副领导人近期因其反战立场和社交媒体言论而被捕入狱。

亚布洛科党周六表示，其一名选举观察员在圣彼得堡的一个投票站被拘留期间“失去知觉”。该党还表示，其他许多亚布洛科党观察员也被禁止进入其他地方的投票站。

克里姆林宫可能会利用此次选举结果来宣称其获得了更强有力的民意授权，称这表明俄罗斯人支持普京以及克里姆林宫所谓的在乌克兰的“特殊军事行动”。

在投票前，普京在向全国发表的电视讲话中表示，选举结果将显示俄罗斯人民团结在军队周围。

普京说：“你们的选择和决心将再次表明，数百万人民支持我们的战士，我们团结一致，因共同的价值观、历史记忆和对祖国的热爱而团结在一起。”

观察人士可能会将投票率视为衡量俄罗斯人对战争和俄罗斯政治走向感受的指标，而不是关注实际结果。

经过三天的投票，俄罗斯11个时区以及俄罗斯驻外使领馆的投票于周日结束。

居住在目前被俄罗斯占领的乌克兰地区的人们也被要求投票，新增的选区包括莫斯科控制的顿涅茨克、卢甘斯克、赫尔松和扎波罗热地区的部分地区。

娜塔莉亚·科列斯尼科娃/阿纳多卢/盖蒂图片社

空荡荡的讲台，电子投票的奖品，没有反对派：俄罗斯民众在乌克兰战事升级之际前往投票站

乌克兰拒绝承认在其境内举行的选举，称其为“闹剧”。选举进行期间，俄罗斯继续攻击其邻国。据基辅方面称，在选举期间，莫斯科向乌克兰城市发射了数百架无人机和数枚导弹。

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此外，基辅方面于周日凌晨对莫斯科发动了迄今为止规模最大的袭击之一。超过1500架无人机被发射，造成至少两人死亡，并损毁了一座大型炼油厂。

继2021年上次大选首次推出在线投票选项后，此次选举中，在线投票和电子投票得到了广泛应用，并受到鼓励。莫斯科甚至为选择电子投票而非纸质选票的居民提供积分奖励。

莫斯科一些选民告诉俄罗斯独立新闻媒体SotaVision，由于“故障”，他们没有收到纸质选票，而是被鼓励通过电子终端投票。“他们是故意的，这帮混蛋！”一位选民告诉SotaVision。

批评人士长期以来对克里姆林宫推行电子投票持怀疑态度，认为这种方式透明度较低。俄罗斯当局驳斥了对其选举程序的批评，并坚称选举完全依法进行。

普京本人选择在线投票，克里姆林宫发布了一段视频，显示他如何操作在线系统并进行投票。

俄罗斯国家通讯社塔斯社报道，莫斯科电子投票系统从周五到周六出现故障和中断，并援引中央选举委员会主席埃拉·帕姆菲洛娃的话说，这是由于“非常大规模和猛烈的”攻击造成的。