Russians began three days of voting on Friday in a State Duma election that President Vladimir Putin has said will demonstrate public support for his army fighting in Ukraine, even though most anti-war candidates have been barred from running.
Putin cast his ballot online from the Kremlin, according to Russian state news agencies, which released footage of him voting in front of a computer screen. In a statement ahead of the vote, Putin told the nation, “Your choice and resolve will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our fighters, that we are a united people, bound by shared values, historical memory, and love for the Motherland.”
Authorities spread voting over three days, ending Sunday, in a bid to boost turnout among the country’s 111 million eligible voters, and for the first time allowed electronic balloting nationwide. Voters are casting two separate ballots to fill the State Duma’s 450 seats — half through party lists and half through single-seat constituencies.
It is Russia’s first parliamentary election since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the ruling United Russia party is widely expected to retain its dominance, along with several smaller “systemic opposition” parties that generally vote in line with the government. The Kremlin has moved to eliminate political risk by excluding independent and anti-war candidates from the ballot.
Voting also took place in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk region. In a separate move seen as aimed at boosting morale for the war effort, authorities sent bone fragments said to belong to a medieval Russian prince who defeated Mongol forces to troops at the front in Ukraine ahead of the vote.
