Moscow13 minutes ago
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Three-day parliamentary elections started in Russia from Friday i.e. 18th September. President Vladimir Putin’s party United Russia is expected to retain its dominance in parliament. At the same time, the Yabloko party, which openly opposed the Ukraine war, has been excluded from the elections.
This is the first parliamentary election after Russia’s full military invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Voting is also taking place in the areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia. Ukraine and the European Union have described the voting taking place there as illegal.
President Putin also took part in the elections on Friday by casting his vote online.
Putin’s party dominates, then why are elections necessary?
For the Kremlin, this election is not limited to just electing members of parliament. Putin wants people to vote in large numbers, so that the message goes that even in the midst of the Ukraine war, the people stand with the government and Russian soldiers.
Putin cast his vote online on Friday. Before the elections, he said that the people’s decision will show that millions of people are standing with the Russian soldiers and the country is united.
Voting is taking place for 450 seats
- People will vote for political parties on 225 seats in the State Duma of Russia. For the remaining 225 seats, candidates standing from different areas will be chosen.
- Apart from United Russia, parties like Communist Party, LDPR, A Just Russia and New People are also contesting the elections.
- However, they are not considered a strong opposition against the government in Russia. These parties often support the government on major issues.
Digital election advertisement of the ruling United Russia party in Moscow ahead of parliamentary elections.
Anti-war Yabloko party out of elections
Yabloko of Russia sole registered party which has been openly opposed to the Ukraine war. The party talks about ending war and peace through dialogue.
Russia’s Supreme Court canceled the registration of Yabloko’s candidate list in August.
According to the court, the party used money received from people who had received money from abroad in the election campaign. Apart from this, the party used some photographs and other publicity material without permission. The party also broke rules regarding campaigning on the internet.
However, Yabloko says that he was actually removed from the election because of his stance against the Ukraine war.
Some candidates of the party are still contesting as individual candidates on different seats. At the same time, some other anti-war leaders have been sent to jail or had to leave Russia.
Nikolai Rybakov, leader of the opposition party Yabloko, at an event in Moscow this month.
Voting in occupied Ukrainian areas also
In this election, for the first time, Russia is also conducting voting in the areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, which are under its control.
Russia had claimed to include these four areas in its country in 2022. However, Ukraine and most other countries do not recognize this claim of Russia. Russia does not have complete control over these four areas either.
Voting is also taking place in Crimea. Russia captured Crimea and incorporated it into its country in 2014.
An armed Russian soldier was also seen deployed near people during voting in the Russian-occupied area of Donetsk.
Election observers were not called
This time Russia has not even invited election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Due to this, questions are being raised regarding the monitoring of elections.
Initial results may start coming from the evening of September 20. Almost the complete picture is expected to be clear by September 21. Putin’s party is expected to maintain its dominance in parliament.
But the importance of this election is not limited to just seeing how many seats which party gets. Putin wants to show this as public support amid the Ukraine war. At the same time, the party which openly opposes the war is out of the elections and voting is also taking place in the Ukrainian areas occupied by Russia.
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