In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with government members via a video link in Moscow on September 23, 2026. (AFP Photo)
Russia announced on Sept. 25 final results of its tightly controlled presidential election, saying President Vladimir Putin's party reinforced its supermajority and around a 10th of new MPs would be Ukraine war veterans.
Russia's first parliamentary election since Moscow launched its Ukraine war in 2022 was held between September 18 and 20, with the Kremlin also organizing voting in occupied Ukraine.
It was conducted without meaningful opposition. Elections under Putin's rule are tightly controlled by the Kremlin.
Russia's electoral head, Ella Pamfilova, said that with all the votes counted, the president's United Russia party had won 349 of the 450 seats in the Duma, the lower house of parliament.
This beats its previous record of 343 seats and hands it an even larger supermajority.
The European Union criticised what it said was Russia's "so-called" election, calling it a "veneer of democracy."
Western countries also condemned the "sham" vote in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.
Putin has ruled Russia since New Year's Eve 1999 and his United Russia party has dominated the country's political scene since the early 2000s.
