Russia votes amid Ukraine war: Which are the main parties on the ballot?
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Russia votes amid Ukraine war: Which are the main parties on the ballot?")
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik on September 16, 2026, Russia's President Vladimir Putin delivers a televised address to the nation ahead of the parliamentary election, in Moscow. Photograph: (AFP)
Russia’s parliamentary election is expected to preserve United Russia’s dominance, with Communist, LDPR and smaller parties also contesting. Anti-war Yabloko was removed from the party-list race.
Russia began voting on Friday (Sep 18) in a parliamentary election that is expected to further cement President Vladimir Putin’s grip on the country’s political system. The three-day election will decide all 450 seats in the State Duma, while voters in 11 regions elect governors and 39 choose regional lawmakers. About 111 million people are eligible to vote, with electronic voting available in several areas.
The election is the first parliamentary vote since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Voting is also taking place in Crimea and four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed, a move Kyiv has condemned and urged governments not to recognise.
United Russia set to dominate
United Russia, the Kremlin’s main political vehicle, controls more than two-thirds of the Duma after its 2021 victory and is expected to retain its dominance.
Its candidate list includes Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. War correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny is also among its leading candidates.
The party backs Putin’s war objectives, although Sobyanin has opposed calls for wider mobilisation. “To destroy a normal economy is to destroy the country altogether,” he said.
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Communists and LDPR back the war
The Communist Party remains a major parliamentary force under longtime leader Gennady Zyuganov. While it has criticised some government policies, it has avoided challenging Putin and supports the war.
“We strictly adhere to President Putin’s directives,” Zyuganov said last month.
The nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, now led by Leonid Slutsky following founder Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s death, also strongly supports the war. Its candidates include former US prisoner Viktor Bout.
Smaller parties fill out the ballot
A Just Russia, the New People Party, Communists of Russia, the Party of Pensioners, the Greens, the Party of Direct Democracy and Motherland are also contesting seats.
The liberal Yabloko Party, Russia’s only registered party opposing the war, was removed from the party-list race by the Supreme Court in August. It can still field candidates in single-seat constituencies.
The exclusion has left voters with limited organised opposition to the Kremlin’s policies.
