United Russia, the ruling pro-Putin party, retained its decisive majority in the national parliament, near-complete election results showed on Monday. Meanwhile, the anti-war Yabloko party appeared to have won a tiny foothold in one regional parliament.
President Vladimir Putin had cast the three-day election to the State Duma - the first since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022 - as a test of support for the war in Ukraine. Elections for some regional parliaments and governors were held at the same time.
In a tightly controlled political system which critics say does not tolerate genuine dissent and which barred many of Yabloko's candidates from running, few surprises were expected.
But political analysts said it was important to the authorities that the process itself was seen to be a relatively smooth one and that the political status quo was maintained.
How the votes tally
With over 95 per cent of the vote counted, Ella Pamfilova, the chairperson of the Central Electoral Commission, said United Russia had won a resounding victory with 57.83 per cent, up from 49.8 per cent which it won in 2021, the last time a parliamentary election was held.
Pamfilova said that, unless the results radically changed, United Russia would control 355 seats or nearly 80 per cent of seats in the 450-seat Duma, a total which includes its results in individual constituencies too. That would see it retain its constitutional majority, meaning it does not need the support of other parties to pass laws and initiate amendments to the constitution.
She said three other parties had made it into parliament - the Communists with 13.81 per cent, the ultra-nationalist LDPR with 8.98 per cent, and the New People party with 7.96 per cent. The Just Russia party was just under the 5 per cent threshold needed to enter parliament, but had "a big chance" of making it, she said.
All of those parties have voted in the same way as United Russia on major issues in recent years. In Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, a close Putin ally, was re-elected to a fifth term as leader.
Pamfilova said turnout among Russia's some 111 million voters - which she put at 59.3 per cent - was a record for such an election, and had gone ahead despite a massive Ukrainian drone attack which targeted Moscow on Sunday, the last day of voting.
She also called the vote "clean" in the face of allegations from opposition activists in exile of widespread rigging.
Yabloko makes it into regional parliament
Yabloko, the only registered anti-war party in Russia, failed to win any parliamentary seats at a national level.
But in Novgorod, about 600 km (370 miles) northwest of Moscow, with nearly 97 per cent of votes counted, it appeared to have cleared the 5 per cent barrier by one percentage point and made it into the regional parliament.
"More than 12,000 Novogorod residents supported Yabloko," the party, which supports a ceasefire in Ukraine, said in a statement.
"Peace, freedom and a life free from fear are values that have struck a chord in people’s hearts and souls."
