Russia’s ruling United Russia party has secured a record 349 seats in the 450-member State Duma, according to final results announced by the Central Election Commission on Friday, giving the Kremlin-backed party its largest parliamentary presence to date.
The result exceeds United Russia’s previous record of 343 seats, won in 2016, and follows Russia’s first parliamentary election since launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Earlier preliminary results had put the party’s tally at 355 seats before the final count was announced.
Central Election Commission chair Ella Pamfilova said United Russia won 58% of the party-list vote and 209 of the 225 single-seat constituencies, bringing its final total to 349 seats.
The Communist Party emerged as the second-largest group with 37 seats, followed by the Liberal Democratic Party with 23, New People with 19 and A Just Russia with 17.
The remaining four seats went to candidates who stood without a party affiliation.
The election was held from 18 to 20 September across Russia’s 450-seat lower house. Nearly 60% of the country’s 111 million eligible voters took part, according to election authorities.
The State Duma is elected through a mixed system, with 225 lawmakers chosen through party lists and another 225 through single-member constituencies.
One of the notable features of the new parliament is the number of Ukraine war veterans elected as lawmakers.
Pamfilova said 46 veterans had won seats, including 41 representing United Russia. Putin has previously described veterans returning from the war as part of Russia’s “new elite”.
The Kremlin welcomed their election.
“This is excellent. The experience of our heroes is in high demand. The results of the vote have clearly confirmed this,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
“Each one of them will make the greatest possible contribution in whatever initiatives that they take on,” Peskov said.
Reuters reported that the Kremlin has highlighted the veterans’ entry into parliament as part of a broader effort to bring former service members into political and public life.
Independent Russian media have reported allegations that several newly elected veteran lawmakers were accused of war crimes in Ukraine. Those allegations have not been established as convictions in the election results.
The vote was the first State Duma election since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Voting also took place in Crimea and in four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claimed to have annexed in 2022. Kyiv has rejected Russia’s authority to hold elections in those territories.
The electoral environment has drawn international scrutiny. Parties and candidates critical of the Kremlin and its war policy faced restrictions, while the liberal Yabloko party was removed from the national party-list ballot by Russia’s Supreme Court before the election.
Russia also did not invite election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The parliamentary vote took place amid continued Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory.
Russian authorities said air defences intercepted more than 1,100 Ukrainian drones during the election period, including hundreds headed towards Moscow on the final day. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the attack as the largest ever against the capital.
Authorities said three people were killed and 38 injured in the wider Moscow region, while Pamfilova said six polling workers were killed and 75 polling stations were damaged or destroyed by shelling.
The newly elected State Duma is scheduled to hold its first session on Wednesday, with Russian media reporting that Vyacheslav Volodin is expected to remain speaker.
