Turnout in the State Duma elections became a record - 56.66 percent, although voting was accompanied by attacks, threats and attempts to hinder the Single Voting Day. Citizens came to polling stations both in Russia and abroad, used remote electronic voting and covered long distances to influence the country's future. This is covered in a RIA Novosti report.
The final day of the State Duma elections. Online report >>
After processing 50.03 percent of the protocols in the State Duma elections, the United Russia party is leading - it has gained 57.87 percent of the vote.
The CPRF took second place with 13.79 percent. LDPR gained 8.80 percent of the vote, New People - 7.86 percent. In fifth place is the A Just Russia party with 5.11 percent.
The voting took place against the backdrop of attacks on civilian facilities, and polling station staff were also affected. In Moscow, drone debris seriously damaged the home of Natalya Sanaykina, chairwoman of Precinct Election Commission No. 1283; she herself sustained shrapnel wounds to her legs. In Zaporozhye Region, a drone killed Yelena Astanina, chairwoman of Precinct Election Commission No. 394. Vladimir Putin condemned this crime and posthumously awarded the deceased the Order of Courage.
The scale was unprecedented: the Single Voting Day covered more than 2,200 campaigns of various levels, in which 20,700 deputies and heads of administrations were elected. More than 111 million people in Russia and over 1.8 million abroad were eligible to vote. In Moscow, by mid-Sunday, 3.15 million voters had used electronic ballots.
President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin voted remotely. United Russia chairman Dmitry Medvedev, LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky and New People chairman Alexey Nechayev preferred in-person voting. CPRF head Gennady Zyuganov also planned to come to a polling station, while A Just Russia leader Sergey Mironov planned to vote remotely.
There were also 333 polling stations operating in 152 countries. Central Election Commission chairwoman Ella Pamfilova called the conditions of the Single Voting Day abroad "very difficult."
In Transnistria, more than 31,000 Russians voted. In Yerevan, the queue to the polling station stretched from the embassy building to the city hall; in Minsk, hundreds of voters gathered; and in Kyrgyzstan, people came with children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. Diplomatic missions in Switzerland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany noted high voter activity.
There were also ten polling points at the border in Leningrad, Kaliningrad and Pskov regions. In Kaliningrad Region, 625 people voted over two days, including those who came from Germany, Poland and Latvia. A family from Czechia took two days to reach Russia and spent another six hours at the border.
In Sydney, Russian Cossack volunteers prevented an attempt to hinder voting at the consulate general. Police, who separated them from participants in an anti-government action, later demanded that the protest be dispersed.
About 380,000 observers monitored the elections, including more than a thousand foreigners representing 133 states and 13 international organizations.
"Like on a spaceship," observer Bojan Vulin from Serbia described his impressions. Together with colleagues, he visited polling stations in Moscow and especially noted the technological sophistication of the process. According to him, the electronic voting system corresponded to a high global standard, and all technologies were Russian.
The head of the mission of the International Association of Political and Electoral Experts, Vito Grittani, said that observers did not identify violations, pointing to the high level of organization, security, and the availability of electronic and remote voting.
Portuguese analyst and lawyer Alexandre Guerreiro drew attention to electronic voting. According to him, for most EU countries this remains "a kind of mirage." Remote or electronic voting, he clarified, exists only in Estonia, France, Bulgaria and Belgium, and there it operates with the participation of foreign companies.
For the CEC, these elections became a serious test. Members of election commissions, their families and children received threats. On September 18 alone, territorial bodies of the Interior Ministry recorded 367 incidents related to the elections, and in 15 regions there were 24 false reports about planned terrorist attacks.
Moscow's remote electronic voting system also came under attack. According to Pamfilova, from abroad. In total, more than one hundred million potentially dangerous impacts on resources were blocked. "We are ready for this," she assured.
There were also conflicts. In Sakhalin, an observer grabbed the deputy chairwoman of a precinct election commission by the hair and tore out a clump. The court granted the commission's claim and removed the offender from the premises. In Moscow, there were attempts at double voting: voters opened an electronic ballot and then demanded a paper one. Police are checking these episodes.
The problems that arose were promptly resolved. Ombudsman Yana Lantratova reported that, together with the CEC, violations were quickly corrected - in particular, at 59 polling stations cameras did not cover the ballot boxes, and at some, video recording could capture a ballot while it was being filled out.
In Yakutsk, after an incident involving the opening of a safe, the precinct commission declared 409 ballots invalid. According to a preliminary assessment by the Interior Ministry, there was no falsification, and the safe packages with ballots were intact.
The office of the Russian ombudsman also collected information about shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, intending to appeal to international organizations on this matter.
Pamfilova stated that reports of violations from 91,000 election commissions amounted to less than one hundredth of a percent. This is several times lower than in the 2021 elections.
In the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, State Duma deputies were elected for the first time. Voting there took place under pressure and strikes by the enemy. Nevertheless, each of these regions recorded high turnout: more than 81 percent, 79.33 percent, 79.39 percent and 74.61 percent respectively.
In Kherson Region, election commission members and media staff received threats, including by phone. As a result of a drone attack on a civilian bus, two people died, among them polling station worker Olga Demyanenko.
In the LPR, 14 polling stations were switched to backup power supply because of strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Rosatom head Alexey Likhachev said: in Energodar, drones and shelling were supposed to intimidate people and prevent them from coming to the elections, but the opposite happened, despite threats, attacks and power supply interruptions. In Kherson Region, commission members also withstood pressure and continued to perform their work.
Pamfilova noted the unprecedented level of cohesion among Russians.
"Russia, it is like that. It is good that our enemies cannot understand it. The more they pressure us, the stronger and more consolidated we become," she said.
And she summed up: despite pressure and provocations, the elections were provided with the highest level of control.