United Russia is "being handed" more than half the vote in State Duma election

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO - 20 September, 21:31

Vote counting in temporarily occupied Donetsk on 20 September. Photo: AFP via Getty Images

Three days of voting in Russia's State Duma (lower chamber of the Russian parliament) election have ended. The ruling United Russia party is winning around half of the vote, according to pro-Kremlin exit polls and early figures from Russia's Central Election Commission.

Source: Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency TASS, citing "exit polls" and early data from Russia's Central Election Commission

Details: Three days of voting to elect members of Russia's State Duma have ended. Polling stations closed at 21:00 in Russia's westernmost oblast, Kaliningrad Oblast.

According to Russia's Central Election Commission, early turnout at 20:55, when voting ended, was 56.66%.

TASS is also posting figures from pro-Kremlin exit polls conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) and the National Institute for Opinion Surveys and Marketing (INSOMAR) .

According to VCIOM, United Russia is winning 49.4% of the vote, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation 14.2%, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 10.7%, New People 9.7% and A Just Russia 6.6%.

According to INSOMAR, United Russia is winning 52.8%, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation 14.8%, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 9.9%, New People 8.6% and A Just Russia 5.5%.

After processing 13.88% of the protocols, Russia's Central Election Commission said United Russia was winning 57.54% of the vote.

Background:

Mobile networks and internet access could be shut down in Russia during the three days of voting for the State Duma and regional parliament elections on 18-21 September due to what authorities describe as "security measures". Meanwhile, systematic pressure on election observers, coercion of public-sector employees and widespread electoral fraud were being reported across the country.
Investigative journalists published leaked internal documents concerning the State Automated System Vybory 2.0 (Elections 2.0), which was being used fully for the first time in Russian federal elections in 2026. According to the developer's technical documentation, the updated system contains tools that allow final vote-count protocols to be directly substituted, electoral rolls to be altered and unverified electronic voting results to be uploaded.
Ella Pamfilova, Head of Russia's Central Election Commission, claimed that Moscow's electoral system had come under a large-scale and intensive cyberattack on the night of 18-19 September.
On 17 September, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) called on the parliaments and governments of foreign states, international organisations and parliamentary assemblies to condemn the holding of sham elections to the Russian State Duma in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and not to recognise their results.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry called on the international community not to recognise Russia's elections to the State Duma and regional parliaments, which the aggressor state is holding both on its own territory and in occupied Ukraine.

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