Russia holds three-day parliamentary elections during ongoing war

Russia is conducting a three-day parliamentary election from September 18 to 20, 2026, to elect 450 members to the State Duma. This marks the first national legislative vote since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. President Vladimir Putin, in power for 26 years, has framed the election as a collective contribution to Russia’s military victory. While more than 110 million Russians are eligible to vote, the process is strictly controlled, with only Kremlin-aligned parties permitted to participate and opposition groups effectively excluded from the ballot.

The election also extends to unilaterally annexed Ukrainian regions, including Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, alongside Crimea. Russian authorities claim over 3.5 million voters are registered in these occupied areas, where the process began in some locations as early as late August for security reasons. With the ruling United Russia party expected to secure a two-thirds majority, observers characterize the election as a managed event rather than a democratic barometer. The ongoing war, now in its fifth year, has resulted in massive casualties, and voting in some occupied areas has been reported alongside the presence of armed military personnel.