Russia Begins First Duma Election Since Invasion

Russia began a three-day parliamentary election on Friday, the first since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with more than 110 million eligible voters choosing all 450 State Duma seats. President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party is expected to retain its dominant position, while Yabloko, the only prominent registered anti-war party, was barred from the ballot and other participating parties broadly support the Kremlin and its war. Critics describe the vote as tightly controlled and lacking meaningful competition, citing censorship, pressure on voters, remote electronic voting and the absence of OSCE election observers. Russia is also holding the election in occupied Ukrainian territories, including Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, a move condemned by Ukraine and much of the international community as illegitimate. The Kremlin is presenting turnout and the expected result as evidence of national unity and support for the war, even as economic strain, fuel shortages, drone attacks and renewed fears of mobilization fuel public anxiety.