About this election
Russia is scheduled to hold elections to the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly, over three days on 18–20 September 2026, renewing all 450 seats for a five-year term. It will be the first nationwide parliamentary vote since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and it takes place in a tightly controlled political environment in which the ruling United Russia party, aligned with President Vladimir Putin, holds a constitutional supermajority. The election is widely expected to confirm the existing balance of power rather than alter it, but it remains a significant marker of how the Kremlin manages public consent during the war and a key staging post on the road to the next presidential cycle.
The State Duma is elected through a parallel (mixed) system. Half of the 450 deputies — 225 — are chosen by closed-list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency, with a 5% threshold for a party to win list seats. The other 225 are elected in single-member districts by first-past-the-post, where a candidate needs only a plurality to win. This mixed system, reintroduced in 2016 after a decade of fully proportional elections, tends to amplify the dominant party's strength: United Russia typically wins the great majority of the single-member districts on top of its list seats. A party needs 226 seats for an absolute majority and 300 for the two-thirds supermajority required to amend the constitution. Voting is spread across multiple days and includes electronic and at-home options, features that international observers have criticised as reducing transparency.
Russia's parliament is composed of five "systemic" parties that operate within boundaries set by the Kremlin and broadly support its foreign and security policy. United Russia is the dominant force and the vehicle of the presidential administration. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) is the largest nominal opposition, drawing on nostalgia for the Soviet era. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), long led by the late nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, occupies a populist-nationalist niche. A Just Russia — For Truth (SRZP) is a nominally social-democratic party, and New People, founded in 2020, presents a mildly liberal, business-friendly image aimed at younger urban voters. Genuine anti-war or opposition figures are largely excluded: the opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony in February 2024, many critics are imprisoned or in exile, and "foreign agent" and "undesirable organisation" laws are used to bar candidates and silence campaigning.
In the September 2021 Duma election, United Russia retained its constitutional supermajority despite a fall in its reported list vote, winning the overwhelming share of single-member districts. Independent observers and the opposition alleged large-scale irregularities, particularly in the newly introduced online voting in Moscow, which reversed several district results in the authorities' favour.
| Party (2021) | List vote % | Total seats |
| United Russia | 49.82 | 324 |
| Communist Party (CPRF) | 18.93 | 57 |
| A Just Russia — For Truth | 7.46 | 27 |
| LDPR | 7.55 | 21 |
| New People | 5.32 | 13 |
Turnout was about 51.7%. The remaining seats went to a handful of smaller-party and self-nominated candidates who generally vote with the majority.
With the result of a United Russia victory effectively assured, the questions are about margins and management: whether United Russia retains its 300-seat supermajority, how the authorities present turnout and the conduct of multi-day and electronic voting, and whether the CPRF can again position itself as the main repository of protest votes. A sensitive issue is the planned inclusion of the four Ukrainian regions Russia claims to have annexed in 2022 — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — whose participation is rejected as illegitimate by Ukraine and most of the international community. Any sign of elite friction or war-weariness showing through the controlled result would be the story of the night.
United Russia's reported support is highest in the ethnic republics of the North Caucasus and in regions with strong administrative control, where official results regularly exceed 80%, and lower in large cities such as Moscow, St Petersburg and parts of the Far East and Siberia, where the Communists and other parties perform better and where most documented disputes over counting have arisen. ElectioMap will map the result across Russia's federal subjects as official figures are released.
On the count this page will show the live nationwide party-list vote share and the running seat total, an interactive map of Russia's regions, and the evolving balance between United Russia and the systemic opposition. Figures are sourced from the Central Election Commission of Russia, the official body that administers and certifies federal elections.
Elections to the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, are scheduled for 18–20 September 2026, with voting spread over three days. All 450 seats are renewed for a five-year term, the first nationwide parliamentary vote since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Through a parallel (mixed) system: 225 of the 450 seats are elected by closed-list proportional representation in a single national constituency with a 5% threshold, and 225 in single-member districts by first-past-the-post. A party needs 226 seats for a majority and 300 for a constitutional supermajority.
Five "systemic" parties: United Russia (the ruling party aligned with President Putin), the Communist Party (CPRF), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), A Just Russia — For Truth, and New People. Genuine opposition figures are largely excluded; opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison in February 2024.
United Russia is expected to win comfortably and retain its dominant position. International observers have criticised recent Russian elections over multi-day and electronic voting, restrictions on candidates and media, and documented irregularities, so the questions are about margins, turnout and the conduct of the vote rather than the winner.
Preliminary results are reported by the Central Election Commission after polls close, with the final tally confirmed within days. Live national vote shares, the running seat total and a regional map will appear on this page as counting begins.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.