Russia wraps up first wartime parliamentary election with Kremlin dominance all but assured

Polls closed Sunday night in Russias first wartime parliamentary election virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putins policies and all but certain to cement the Kremlins dominance The last day of the threeday election came as Ukrainian forces fired more than 1000 drones at Russia overnight including hundreds that were launched toward Moscow Russias Central Election Commission said turnout at the close of polls stood at 5666 per centThe vote began Friday for 111 million eligible voters and included residents of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed after the war began but still doesnt fully control as well as those in Crimea the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014Authorities in Kyiv denounced the voting in the Russianheld areas as illegal and urged foreign governments not to recognise the result The European Union on Friday called the action a blatant violation of international law As the polls closed in Russia and Russianheld areas of Ukraine voting continued at embassies and consulates in time zones further west including in the United StatesKremlin expected to keep controlThe Kremlin wants the parliamentary election the first since the start of the fullscale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to showcase popular support for the war and legitimise its action It has sought to avoid political risks by stamping out any dissentA massive state media campaign and tight control over the election in the absence of genuine opposition all but assure the Kremlin will keep tight control of Russian politics amid mounting economic costs and increasing Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside the countryVoters cast two separate ballots filling half of the Dumas 450 seats by selecting political parties listed on the ballot The rest are contested in singleseat constituencies with voters choosing individual candidates Preliminary results are expected within hours of voting ending in the countrys westThe main Kremlin party United Russia is widely expected to retain its overwhelming control of the lower house the State Duma Several smaller parties of the systemic opposition that vote in sync with Putins views on all key issues are also expected to maintain their presenceOpposition sidelined as observers report violationsThe liberal Yabloko party the only registered political entity that dared to publicly criticise the war was removed from the ballot last month by Russias Supreme Court and only has a few dozen candidates in the singleconstituency races Additionally some antiwar politicians were imprisoned or forced to flee abroad ahead of the campaignYabloko and the Communist Party which has criticised some aspects of government policy but carefully avoided any criticism of Putin said many of their observers were turned away from polling stationsRussia didnt invite observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe with the Russian Foreign Ministry accusing the body of double standards for its criticism of Russia OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pere Joan Pons said that the decision was a breach of Russias commitments as a member state of the organisationYabloko reported that one of its observers lost consciousness while being arrested by police at a St Petersburg polling station on Saturday after officials accused him of trying to disrupt the elections and called policeThe parties reported violations including sealed ballot boxes being opened doors to polling stations not being secured overnight and a refusal to issue paper ballots The claims could not be independently verified At one polling station in the Russianheld part of the Donetsk region voters dropped their ballots in a box as an armed Russian soldier stood nearby and watchedIssues with electronic voting in MoscowElla Pamfilova head of Russias Central Election Commission said Sunday that the electronic voting system in Moscow was targeted by cyberattacks She blamed one of the systemic parties meaning one of those taking part in the vote without specifying which oneSotaVision an independent Russian news outlet said Sunday that voters were reporting glitches in the electronic registry systems at polling stations across Moscow People were not issued paper ballots and instead were asked to vote via an electronic terminal the outlet said on TelegramLeonid Volkov a close associate of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny suggested the supposed breakdown of the system used to issue paper ballots in Moscow may have been deliberate aimed at pushing voters toward electronic votingDemand a paper ballot he wrote on X on Sunday Lines formed outside polling stations as many voters refused to vote electronicallyHaving urged supporters to spoil partylist ballots Yabloko party leader Nikolai Rybakov cast a ballot in St Petersburg on Sunday covered in bright green writing declaring For freedom For peace and YablokoRussian opposition abroad holds protestsRussias exiled opposition including the widow of Alexei Navalny Yulia Navalnaya called on antiwar Russians to cast their votes at noon on SundayThousands of Russians living in Armenia took part in the vote lining up outside the Russian Embassy in the capital Yerevan Some of them joined the Noon for a Peaceful Russia antiwar demonstration holding antiwar and antiPutin postersMark Podberezin a journalist said members of the election commission in Yerevan made remarks that felt like outright intimidation He said he had heard comments along the lines of Youll have to return to Russia sooner or later keep that in mindLidiya Klimenko said she did not think her vote would have any real impact The most useful thing to do she said was to see other people who are also against the war to be together in a shared causeIn Germany voters cast their ballots at the Russian Embassy in Berlin Andrei Pivovarov a dissident and former head of the Open Russia group addressed a protest gathered outside the buildingUkraine fires over 1000 drones at RussiaThe elections last day came against a backdrop of a major wave of Ukrainian attacks Russias Defence Ministry said Sunday that its forces shot down a total of 1110 Ukrainian drones across Russia as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea Two people were killed and 20 wounded across the wider Moscow region local Gov Andrei Vorobyov saidThe election follows a summer of Ukraines longrange drone strikes on oil refineries that triggered a widespread fuel crisis Warehouses belonging to online retailers Wildberries and Ozon were also attacked Those attacks have exacerbated economic problems and brought the war home for millionsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever