Russia’s three-day election for the 450-member State Duma concluded Sunday with preliminary voter turnout nearing 57%, according to the Central Election Commission. Vote counting was still underway, with final nationwide results yet to be announced.
More than 111 million people were eligible to vote in the election, which combined traditional polling with remote electronic voting. The reported turnout was higher than the 51.72% recorded during the 2021 parliamentary election.
Russia uses a mixed electoral system to select its 450 deputies. Half of the seats are allocated through federal party lists, where parties must secure at least 5% of the vote, while the remaining 225 seats are decided through single-member constituencies.
Ten parties participated in the federal party-list contest, including the five parliamentary parties — United Russia, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, A Just Russia and New People — alongside Rodina, Communists of Russia, the Greens, the Pensioners’ Party and the Party of Direct Democracy. Yabloko did not appear on the federal ballot but continued to field candidates in individual constituencies.
Cyberattacks During Election
Central Election Commission Chair Ella Pamfilova said Russia’s election infrastructure experienced widespread cyberattacks throughout the three-day voting period.
She claimed that more than 100 million potentially harmful attempts to target election-related systems were detected and blocked. The attacks reportedly targeted election commission websites, the remote voting portal and the Gosuslugi government services platform.
Pamfilova said security measures prevented the attacks from successfully disrupting the election. She also alleged that some attempts to interfere with telecommunications infrastructure showed Ukrainian involvement and said attacks against remote voting systems originated from several foreign locations, including Ukraine and the UK.
She further reported an incident in which a political party representative allegedly attempted to introduce malicious software into Moscow’s remote voting system. According to Pamfilova, the attempt was unsuccessful.
Drone Attacks On Moscow
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said the capital had faced an unusually large drone attack during the election period.
He reported that more than 1,600 drones had been intercepted on different approaches since Saturday, including around 450 near Moscow. Some drones reportedly reached the Moscow Oil Refinery area, while another struck a residential building. Sobyanin said there were no deaths in the incidents he described.
He characterized the attack as unprecedented in scale and suggested it was intended to interfere with the election, although he said the attempt did not succeed.
Russian Claims About Ukrainian Attacks
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces launched a large-scale attack using drones and Flamingo cruise missiles during Saturday and Sunday.
The ministry claimed Russian air defenses and military aircraft destroyed 1,951 drones and eight long-range cruise missiles within 24 hours. It also said another cruise missile fell in an unpopulated area after deviating from its course.
According to the ministry, missiles aimed at the Moscow region were intercepted before reaching civilian targets. Russian officials said the attacks had failed to achieve their objectives and warned that strikes against military facilities in Kyiv would continue.
The election was Russia’s first parliamentary vote since 2022 and took place amid the continuing war with Ukraine. Voting was also conducted in areas of Ukraine controlled by Russia, a move rejected by Ukrainian authorities and criticized by some Western governments.
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