United Russia wins record 355 Duma seats in first wartime parliamentary vote

Euronews (https://www.euronews.com/2026/09/21/russians-vote-in-final-day-of-parliamentary-elections) reports that on 21 September Central Election Commission chair Ella Pamfilova announced preliminary results from the 18-20 September State Duma vote: United Russia 355 of 450 seats, Communists 40, LDPR 25, New People 20, turnout above 59%. Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/21/russia-election-results-show-putins-party-winning-what-we-know) reports United Russia at about 57.9% of the list vote, over 3.6 million online votes, and voting in the four annexed Ukrainian regions and Crimea. No party critical of Putin ran. Final results were due later in the week.

Interpretation: the Kremlin now holds a constitutional supermajority larger than 2021's 326 seats, so any legislation, including constitutional amendments or unpopular fiscal measures, needs no bargaining with the systemic opposition. The vote's timing also removes the main domestic reason to delay tax rises or other austerity until after polling day. Holding votes in occupied regions reinforces Moscow's claim that those territories are non-negotiable in any settlement. Caveat: official figures cannot be independently verified.