Putin’s Party Wins 355 Seats in Russia’s Election
Putin’s United Russia is heading for 355 of 450 seats in Russia’s State Duma after an election in which the main parties competing nationally broadly backed the Kremlin, while the country’s only registered openly anti-war party was excluded from the federal ballot.
In a Nutshell
- On September 21, United Russia had won 57.83 percent of the party list vote with 95 percent of ballots counted.
- Preliminary seat allocations gave United Russia 355 seats, followed by the Communist Party with 40, LDPR with 25 and New People with 20.
- The September 18 to 20 election was the first parliamentary vote since Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Context
The ballot offered several parties besides United Russia, but the main parliamentary alternatives broadly support Putin and the war. The Communist Party, LDPR, New People and A Just Russia were all expected to remain in the Duma, with their differences largely falling within the Kremlin’s permitted political field.
Yabloko was the exception. It openly opposed the war, but Russia’s Supreme Court removed its federal party list in August, leaving its candidates able to contest only some single seat races. The party later won seats in the Novgorod regional legislature, the only region where it was allowed to run as a party.
Why It Matters
United Russia’s 355 seats give Putin’s party a constitutional majority in the 450 seat Duma. That means the Kremlin enters the next parliamentary term with enough seats to approve constitutional changes without relying on its smaller parliamentary partners, while those partners remain broadly aligned with its central policies.
The result also gives the Kremlin a stronger parliamentary base as the war continues to impose economic costs inside Russia. The government expects this year’s budget deficit to reach 3 percent of GDP, compared with an original target of 1.6 percent.
What We Think
Putin has secured a larger parliamentary majority while the one registered party offering an explicit anti-war position was removed from the national ballot, leaving voters with several parties that differ on domestic politics but broadly accept the Kremlin’s position on the war.
That makes the result a clear measure of parliamentary control, but a much narrower measure of how Russians might vote if an openly anti-war national alternative were allowed to compete. The election has produced a stronger United Russia majority without providing that comparison.