Putin's Party Secures Record Supermajority in Russian Parliamentary Election

Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won a record 355 seats in Russia's 450-member State Duma, securing its largest-ever constitutional majority in the first parliamentary election since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. United Russia captured 57.83% of the vote, surpassing its previous record of 343 seats and enabling it to initiate constitutional amendments without other parties' support. The Communist Party finished second with 40 seats, followed by the LDPR with 25 and New People with 20. Turnout exceeded 59%, despite a major Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow on the final voting day. The anti-war Yabloko party failed to win federal seats but crossed the 5% threshold in the Novgorod regional legislature. The EU, Britain, Australia, and Canada criticized the election's conduct and voting in occupied Ukrainian territories, while the Kremlin rejected the criticism as illegitimate.