Putin Wins Record Number Of Seats In Sham Elections After Banning Opposition - Foreign Affairs

 

Putin wins record number of seats in sham elections ●Fears of military mobilisation after tightly controlled vote in which most opposition candidates were banned ●The election was Russia’s first since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Vladimir Putin’s party has won a record number of seats in Russia’s carefully planned parliamentary election in which no parties critical of the president took part. Preliminary results showed Putin’s United Russia party won 355 seats in the 450-seat Duma lower house of parliament, Ella Pamfilova, the electoral chief, announced on Monday – a supermajority larger than the party’s previous record of 343 seats. The election result is expected to further tighten Putin’s grip on power. Some fear a new military mobilisation in Russia, something the president has denied, while Kyiv accuses Moscow of planning a call-up in coming weeks. The election, Russia’s first since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, was tightly controlled by the Kremlin, which has banned criticism of its military campaign. Most opposition candidates were excluded, including Yabloko – Russia’s only liberal, anti-war party – which was banned from the ballot and allowed to compete only in single-ballot races. Some anti-war politicians were jailed or forced to flee abroad before the campaign. Ms Pamfilova said turnout was more than 59 per cent, the highest in a parliamentary election in over a decade. She thanked Russians for voting despite what she called “psychological pressure” on the country and denounced “more than a thousand” cyber-attacks targeting the electronic voting system, which she blamed on Ukraine. Parties that nearly always vote for Kremlin initiatives won seats in the State Duma. Russia’s Communist party came second, winning 40 seats. The nationalist LDPR party won 25 seats and the New People party won 20 seats. Electronic balloting was available in many regions and encouraged by authorities. Critics said it made it easier for the government to control the outcome of the vote. Yabloko and the Communist Party, which has criticised some aspects of government policy but carefully avoided any criticism of Putin, said many of their observers were turned away from polling stations. Russia did not invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Russian foreign ministry having accused the body of “double standards” for its criticism of Russia. Pere Joan Pons, the president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, said that the decision was a breach of Russia’s commitments as a member state of the organisation. Photographs of polling stations showed armed soldiers watching over people as they voted. Ms Pamfilova said that more than 95 per cent of votes have been counted and that final results will be announced later this week. A recent uptick in hybrid attacks suspected to have come from Russia have led to concerns in Europe that Putin will use his electoral success as an excuse to ramp up mobilisation, escalate its war on Ukraine and attack Nato. With Ukrainian drone incursions increasingly attacking deeper into Russian territory, it was unsurprising the Kremlin kept a tight watch over the elections. Kyiv has increasingly sought to humiliate Moscow and unnerve Russians with its heavy drone campaigns. On Sunday, the final day of the elections, three people were killed after Moscow and the surrounding regions were pummelled with hundreds of drones. Volodymyr Zelensky claimed the strikes damaged one of Russia’s “key oil facilities”. In response, Russia has installed enormous anti-drone protective structures over the capital’s oil facilities. Footage appeared to show workmen standing on layers of giant nets covering an oil refinery, held up by scaffolding. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/09/21/putin-wins-record-number-of-seats-in-sham-elections/ Quote Report 1 Like Like Share

Re: Putin Wins Record Number Of Seats In Sham Elections After Banning Opposition by BlackViper(op): 6:53pm On Sep 21

Banning and imprisoning opposition politicians, using the military to intimidate voters, barring internship observers etc Can you imagine that Nigerian elections are now more credible than Russian elections? The Kremlin midget is turning the once mighty Russia into a 3rd world hell hole. Quote Report 19 Likes Like Share

Re: Putin Wins Record Number Of Seats In Sham Elections After Banning Opposition by FreeStuffsNG: 6:58pm On Sep 21

BlackViper: ●Putin wins record number of seats in sham elections ●Fears of military mobilisation after tightly controlled vote in which most opposition candidates were banned ●The election was Russia’s first since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022