Moscow: Russia has wrapped up its first parliamentary election held since the start of the war in Ukraine, with projections indicating that the Kremlin-backed United Russia party will retain its dominant position in the State Duma.

The vote took place against the backdrop of a sweeping crackdown on opposition and dissent. Independent candidates and critical voices have faced arrests, disqualifications, and severe restrictions, leaving the field tilted heavily in favour of the ruling party and its approved rivals.

International observers from Western democracies were largely absent, and critics say the conditions made a genuinely competitive contest impossible.

Controversial voting in annexed territories

The election also included voting in Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia, a move that Kyiv condemned as illegal. Ukraine has consistently rejected any Russian electoral activity in areas it considers occupied, and Western governments have echoed that position.

Moscow, for its part, treats the annexed regions as part of the Russian Federation and has moved to integrate them politically, including through participation in national votes.

What the result means

A retained majority for United Russia would confirm the Kremlin’s full political control at a time of prolonged conflict. With the legislature firmly aligned with the executive, there is little prospect of domestic political pressure altering the course of the war.

For Ukraine and its allies, the election reinforces the view that Russia’s political system has closed ranks around the war effort. The vote, conducted under wartime censorship laws and with dissent criminalised, is unlikely to shift international assessments of Russian democracy. Analysts say the vote was designed less to choose a parliament than to demonstrate unity behind the war, with the outcome settled long before the first ballot was cast. Western governments are expected to dismiss the exercise as neither free nor fair. For ordinary Russians, the vote changes little: the Duma’s composition was never in doubt, and daily life under wartime laws will continue as before.