Russia's ruling United Russia party leads in first general election since Ukraine conflict

Russia has concluded its first general election since the commencement of military operations in Ukraine. Preliminary results indicate that the ruling United Russia party secured approximately 57.05% of the vote, maintaining a significant lead over the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (13.96%) and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (9.31%).

The election saw a voter turnout of approximately 55-56%, a figure higher than the final turnouts of the 2016 and 2021 elections. Notably, voting also took place in four Ukrainian regions that Russia claims to have annexed: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.

Russian election officials reported that the voting process faced over 100 million attempted cyberattacks, which they attributed to Ukraine. While officials stated these attacks were successfully blocked, opposition figures raised concerns regarding electronic voting and the exclusion of anti-war candidates. Ukraine has officially refused to recognize the legitimacy of the elections held in the occupied territories.