Polls close in Russian wartime election with ruling party set to dominate

Russian President Vladimir Putin has cast the vote as a test of support for his ongoing war in Ukraine.

Members of a local electoral commission empty a ballot box before counting votes in the Russian town of Podolsk, near Moscow, on September 20, 2026 [Ramil Sitdikov/Reuters]

Polls have closed in Russia’s first wartime parliamentary elections, with the ruling United Russia party on course to win the tightly controlled vote.

The Kremlin wants the elections, the first parliamentary vote since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, to showcase popular support for the war and legitimise its action.

list 1 of 3 The view from Russia: ‘No party can be antiwar’ in parliamentary election

list 2 of 3 Do elections in Russia make a difference?

list 3 of 3 Russia’s elections are more than political theatre

Russian government officials accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt voting after Kyiv launched hundreds of drones at Moscow and other regions in what the TASS state news agency said was the biggest attack of its kind since the war began.

The drone strikes on Sunday killed at least three people in the Moscow region and two more in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, including an election official, according to the region’s governor and the election commission.

Russian authorities also reported attacks on the country’s electronic voting systems and communication lines during the polls, but said the electoral process was mostly smooth.

Initial results showed the United Russia party comfortably ahead, and Russia’s Central Election Commission said turnout at the close of polls stood at 56.66 percent.

The first official results and turnout are expected on Monday morning.

Voting in Russian-held Ukrainian areas

The vote, which began on Friday for 111 million eligible voters, included residents of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed after the war began, but still doesn’t fully control, as well as those in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Authorities in Kyiv denounced the voting in the Russian-held areas as illegal and urged foreign governments not to recognise the result. The European Union on Friday called the action a “blatant violation of international law”.

Voters cast two separate ballots, filling half of the lower house’s 450 seats by selecting political parties listed on the ballot. The rest are contested in single-seat constituencies, with voters choosing individual candidates.

The main Kremlin party, United Russia, is widely expected to retain its overwhelming control of the State Duma. Several smaller parties of the “systemic opposition” that vote in sync with Putin’s views on all key issues are also expected to maintain their presence.

A massive state media campaign and tight control over the elections in the absence of genuine opposition all but assure the Kremlin will keep tight control of Russian politics amid mounting economic costs and increasing Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside the country.

The liberal Yabloko party, the only registered political entity that dared to publicly criticise the war, was removed from the ballot last month by Russia’s Supreme Court. It only has a few dozen candidates in the single-constituency races.

Additionally, some anti-war politicians were imprisoned or forced to flee abroad ahead of the campaign.

Russia didn’t invite election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused the body of “double standards” for its criticism of Russia.

俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京将此次投票视为对其在乌克兰持续战争的支持度的一次考验。

2026年9月20日，在莫斯科附近的俄罗斯波多利斯克镇，当地选举委员会成员在计票前清空投票箱。[拉米尔·西迪科夫/路透社]

俄罗斯首次战时议会选举投票结束，执政的统一俄罗斯党有望赢得这场受到严格控制的选举。

克里姆林宫希望通过此次选举（自 2022 年全面入侵乌克兰以来的首次议会选举）来展现民众对战争的支持，并使战争行动合法化。

列表 1/3 来自俄罗斯的观点：议会选举中“任何政党都不能反战”

列表 2（共 3 题）：俄罗斯的选举真的有意义吗？

俄罗斯选举不仅仅是政治作秀（共3条，此为第3条）

俄罗斯政府官员指责乌克兰试图干扰选举，此前基辅向莫斯科和其他地区发射了数百架无人机，塔斯社称这是自战争开始以来同类袭击中规模最大的一次。

据该地区州长和选举委员会称，周日的无人机袭击在莫斯科地区造成至少三人死亡，在俄罗斯控制的乌克兰赫尔松地区造成两人死亡，其中包括一名选举官员。

俄罗斯当局还报告称，在选举期间，该国的电子投票系统和通信线路遭到攻击，但表示选举过程总体上比较顺利。

初步结果显示统一俄罗斯党遥遥领先，俄罗斯中央选举委员会表示，投票结束时的投票率为 56.66%。

预计周一上午将公布首批官方结果和投票率。

在俄罗斯控制的乌克兰地区进行投票

此次投票于周五开始，共有 1.11 亿符合资格的选民参加，其中包括莫斯科在战争开始后非法吞并但至今仍未完全控制的四个乌克兰地区的居民，以及克里米亚半岛的居民。克里米亚是黑海沿岸的一个半岛，于 2014 年被俄罗斯非法吞并。

基辅当局谴责俄罗斯控制区内的投票非法，并敦促外国政府不要承认选举结果。欧盟周五称此举“公然违反国际法”。

选民需投两张不同的选票，第一张选票通过选择选票上列出的政党来填补下议院450个席位中的一半。其余席位则在单一选区进行选举，选民直接选择候选人。

普遍预期克里姆林宫的主要政党——统一俄罗斯党——将继续保持其在国家杜马的绝对控制权。一些在所有关键问题上与普京立场一致的“体制内反对派”小党派预计也将继续保持其在杜马的席位。

在缺乏真正反对派的情况下，大规模的国家媒体宣传和对选举的严格控制几乎可以肯定，在经济成本不断上升和乌克兰无人机深入俄罗斯腹地的袭击日益增多的情况下，克里姆林宫将继续严格控制俄罗斯政治。

上个月，俄罗斯最高法院将唯一敢于公开批评战争的注册政党“亚博卢”党从候选人名单中除名。该党在单一选区选举中只有几十名候选人。

此外，一些反战政治家在运动开始前被监禁或被迫逃往国外。

俄罗斯没有邀请欧洲安全与合作组织派观察员参加选举。俄罗斯外交部指责该组织对俄罗斯的批评是“双重标准”。