Russia's 2026 parliamentary election
Russia holds parliamentary elections this weekend that are expected to hand another dominant majority to Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, the first Duma vote since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. The Kremlin is using the election to showcase public backing for the war — nearly 200 veterans of the fighting are standing as candidates — in a system critics call neither free nor fair, though officials insist Russia simply runs its "own political process." The sole registered anti-war party, Yabloko, was struck from the national party list by the Supreme Court in July after briefly qualifying, and growing numbers of its individual candidates have since been detained or barred; one told the BBC police accused him of "propagandising extremism" merely for posting the name of the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny online.
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As it ran
18 September 2026
- Russia’s parliamentary election: Who’s on the ballot, and why it matters Al Jazeera
- Russians begin voting in parliamentary election in shadow of war South China Morning Post