Russia to hold tightly controlled vote in fifth year of war
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A woman voting early in Russia’s parliamentary election in Verbovka, in the Donetsk region of Russian-controlled Ukraine, on Sept 14.
PHOTO: AFP
- Russia will hold tightly controlled parliamentary elections from Sept 18-20, seen by the Kremlin as a measure of public opinion on the ongoing war with Ukraine.
- Only pro-Putin parties are allowed to participate, with no real opposition, ensuring a guaranteed majority for United Russia amid heavy censorship and repression.
- The vote also raises fears of a possible new military mobilisation, although experts doubt this will happen, viewing the election mainly as a legitimacy boost for Putin's leadership and war effort.
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MOSCOW – Russia will this week hold a tightly controlled election in a vote seen by the Kremlin as a barometer of public opinion on the war with Ukraine, which is dragging into its fifth year.
Some Russians have grown weary of economic stagnation and intensifying Ukrainian retaliatory attacks, and there are fears in some quarters that Russian President Vladimir Putin could order a mass call-up of new soldiers after the election.
The parliamentary vote – held from Sept 18 to 20 – will be the first since Russia launched its offensive in February 2022, and only the second nationwide poll since then, after a presidential contest that re-elected Putin in 2024.
Voting is also due to take place in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia’s army.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands, brought widespread censorship at home, devastated eastern Ukraine and seen Moscow hit with unprecedented Western sanctions.
With Moscow having banned criticism of the war, no real opposition parties will be on the ballot, and Putin’s ruling United Russia party is assured of scooping a majority of seats in the State Duma.
A European diplomat told AFP that while the election was “quite a sham”, it was a “ritual the Kremlin considers essential”, and that it would be striving to “ensure a high turnout”.
Even if the results are “predefined”, voting still matters, exiled Russian political scientist Nikolai Petrov said.
“Just like at the time of the Soviet Union, elections should demonstrate (the) loyalty of citizens.”
For Putin – who has been in power for 26 years – it is important to “demonstrate to elites that he is still supported, still trusted by ordinary people”, Petrov said.
Half of the 450 seats up for grabs will be decided by a nationwide vote for party blocs, with the other half allocated to single-member districts across the country.
Only parties that support Putin and the war have been permitted to stand on the national ballot: the ruling United Russia party, the Communist Party, A Just Russia, the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, and New People.
Russia’s sole anti-war party still active inside the country, Yabloko, was barred from standing.
“It’s a choice without a choice,” said 18-year-old Yevdokia. She had planned to vote for Yabloko, which has called for an end to fighting in Ukraine, but will now vote for New People.
The authorities have used the backdrop of the war to ramp up repression to levels unseen since days of the Soviet Union.
All of Putin’s top opponents are in jail, in exile or dead – like his main challenger Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison in 2024.
While Russia’s Parliament has seen its powers hugely reduced under Putin, legislative elections have previously been sources of tension. In 2011, widespread fraud and the return of Putin to the Kremlin from the role of prime minister led to Russia’s largest protests since the end of the USSR.
In Moscow, there are few signs that an election will even take place in 2026. Campaign posters are few and far between, save for generic ones from the authorities urging people to participate – featuring the slogan, “Your voice is Russia’s strength”.
Mobilisation fears
The vote will serve as a barometer of feelings on a war that has killed hundreds of thousands and undermined the daily lives of Russians, even those living thousands of kilometres from the front.
In recent months, Kyiv has stepped up its long-range strikes on Russia – cast as fair retribution for Moscow’s own barrages – causing fuel shortages and billions of roubles in damage and killing civilians.
Amid persistent rumours, Putin himself has been forced to deny that Moscow plans a new round of mobilisation – similar to the unpopular 2022 call-up of 300,000 reservists – after the vote.
Kremlin critics, Kyiv and some Western countries have accused him of planning just that.
Russia expert Tatiana Stanovaya – of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, which Moscow banned – believes a call-up is unlikely.
“They made so much effort to convince Russians not (to) worry about it... I would be very, very surprised if it happens.”
With his inevitable victory, Putin would instead see “confirmation of his legitimacy”, she said – “legitimacy of his war”. AFP