United Russia on course to retain enlarged majority in Russia’s State Duma

United Russia is on course to remain Russia’s largest parliamentary party and retain, possibly expand, its constitutional majority, according to preliminary results from the State Duma election.

The party, supported by President Vladimir Putin, was widely expected to lead the vote. Other parties likely to enter the Duma were also represented in the previous parliament, which backed Kremlin policies and the war in Ukraine.

Anti-war party Yabloko was removed from the party-list ballot 12 days after registration. Its chairman, Nikolai Rybakov, said the party’s candidates and election observers had faced pressure. None of about 100 remaining individual candidates appeared to have won seats in preliminary results.

The Central Election Commission reported turnout of 56.66 per cent when polling closed. The election took place after reported Ukrainian drone attacks in the Moscow area, including damage to the capital’s oil refinery, but the source material does not establish whether the attacks affected voting or the result.

BBC World reported that the Kremlin is likely to present the outcome as a public mandate for Putin and continued wartime policies. That interpretation is not independent evidence of majority support for the war, while the final seat distribution and official figures remain unsettled.

Putin has recently ruled out another mobilisation wave, saying no current scenario required one. Anxiety about possible future mobilisation remains in Russian society, and the election result may be used to support subsequent decisions on the war and other policies.