Elections were held in Russia on September 10 – governors remained in their places, United Russia retained a majority in regional parliaments and seats in the State Duma after by-elections.
Governor
Governor elections were held in 21 regions of Russia. After the votes were counted, it became known that their current heads would remain governors. These are 19 representatives of United Russia and two communists: Valentin Konovalov in Khakassia and Andrei Klychkov in the Oryol region.
With the exception of Konovalov, all candidates received more than 70 percent of the votes. The highest result was shown by Vasily Anokhin in the Smolensk region – almost 86.7 percent.
Konovalov received the least votes – 63.1 percent. At the same time, his main competitor, United Russia member Sergei Sokol, withdrew from the elections for health reasons a week before they began. Before this, their chances of getting elected were assessed as approximately equal.
Regional parliaments
Legislative elections were held in 16 regions of Russia. All of them were carried out according to a mixed system: voters were asked to vote for the party list and for the candidate of their district. According to the lists, United Russia lost only in Khakassia: 36.4% versus 39.1% for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. However, United Russia will still have a majority in the Supreme Council of the republic: they took 23 out of 25 districts.
The most multi-party parliament will be in the Yaroslavl region: six parties entered it on the lists, including the “Party of Pensioners” (this party received another seat in the legislative assembly of the Vladimir region).
Almost everywhere, second place on the lists was taken by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. In Yakutia, it was surpassed by “New People”, in the Arkhangelsk, Ivanovo, Smolensk regions and in the Trans-Baikal Territory – by the LDPR, which in other regions is predominantly in third place.
State Duma
Additional elections of deputies to the State Duma (to replace the deceased) were held in three regions of Russia. Representatives of United Russia won all of them.
Municipal elections
Several large election campaigns at the municipal level also took place in Russia. Sergei Kravchuk from United Russia became the mayor of Khabarovsk. 45% of Khabarovsk residents who came to the elections voted for him, more than a third voted for his competitor from SRZP. Khabarovsk is one of five regional centers in Russia where direct elections of the mayor have been preserved.
“Elections” in the occupied territories of Ukraine
In the Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine, voting took place for candidates to Russian regional parliaments.
The announced results of United Russia there are an order of magnitude higher than in the Russian regions. Also, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party entered the legislative assemblies, the fourth party in the three bodies will be SRZP, and in Donetsk – “New People”.
In annexed Crimea, a State Duma deputy from United Russia was also elected. Its previous representative, Alexey Chernyak, who sat in the Crimean parliament from 2006 to 2021, resigned from his post of his own free will in September 2022. He did not remain a State Duma deputy for even a year, preferring to return to Crimea. The message about this was the last in his Telegram channel.
Ukraine and Western countries called the vote illegal and said they would not accept the results under any circumstances.