Vladimir Putin’s party claims landslide victory in regional elections

Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party claimed a landslide victory Monday in a sweeping election held September 6-8, as the country remains at war with Ukraine. At a news conference, the party’s acting general committee secretary, Vladimir Yakushev, said its candidates had won all 25 regional leadership mandates that were up for grabs.

These 25 elections concerned in particular the election of the governor of the Kursk region, targeted since August 6 by a major Ukrainian offensive, of that of Saint Petersburg, the second city of the country, and of the leader of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea annexed in 2014. According to him, candidates of the party also won three early elections for the post of deputy of the Duma, the lower house of the federal Parliament.

Since the attack on Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian authorities have crushed the last dissenting voices in the country. The majority of opposition figures are in prison, in exile abroad or dead. Many NGOs and independent media denounce elections in Russia without real opposition, with systematic fraud.