United Russia won most campaigns in regional elections

The overwhelming majority of regional election campaigns on the single voting day on September 10 ended in victory for United Russia. Even in traditionally difficult regions (Arkhangelsk, Irkutsk, Novgorod, Ulyanovsk regions, Transbaikal and Krasnoyarsk territories, Yakutia), the party in power was able to rehabilitate itself after unsuccessful performances five years ago. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation “retained” two regions.

Based on the results of processing 52.77% of the protocols, the head of Khakassia, communist Valentin Konovalov, gains 63.05% of the votes. The second place is taken by the deputy of the Supreme Council of Khakassia from the LDPR Mikhail Molchanov, the third place is taken by the candidate from the “Communists of Russia” Vladimir Grudinin. In the elections to the Supreme Council of Khakassia, United Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation were almost equal: 36.34% and 38.16%, respectively, based on the results of processing 13.49% of the protocols. The results of elections to the parliament of the republic in single-mandate constituencies were not known at the time the issue was submitted.

Four acting governors appointed to their posts last spring and nominated by United Russia for elections – Vladislav Kuznetsov, Vasily Anokhin, Vitaly Khotsenko and Mikhail Kotyukov – confidently won victories in Chukotka (70.82%), in the Smolensk and Omsk regions (75 .66%) and Krasnoyarsk Territory (70.73%), respectively. In addition to communist Valentin Konovalov, according to preliminary data, the following were elected to second terms:

Data from traditional polling stations for the Moscow mayoral elections have also not yet been published, but the current mayor wins in the DEG. Based on the results of decoding the online voting data, the preliminary number of votes is more than 2 million. Communist Leonid Zyuganov, who is in second place, has 212,153 votes.

Turnout in the capital was about 43%. According to the head of the Moscow City Election Commission, Olga Kirillova, out of almost 3.3 million voters, over 2.7 million participated using remote electronic voting (that is, more than 82%).

With the exception of Khakassia, United Russia won elections to all legislative assemblies, including in the Irkutsk region, where the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was in the lead in 2018. Then, against the backdrop of internal contradictions in the region, the influence of ex-communist governor Sergei Levchenko and other factors, United Russia lost primacy to the communists, who received 6% more votes.

“In the Irkutsk region, according to preliminary data, we are doubling the result compared to 2018. We will form a qualified majority in the elections to the legislative assembly. We are entering the presidential campaign with a good base,” Andrei Turchak, secretary of the United Russia General Council, wrote in his Telegram channel. Also, United Russia was able to take revenge for the defeat of the communists five years ago in the elections to the legislative assembly of the Ulyanovsk region.

In all the new regions admitted to the Russian Federation in the fall of 2022 (Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions), United Russia won a landslide victory. These subjects, led by the Kemerovo region, formed the top 5 in terms of turnout. The newly formed parliaments of the new regions are multi-factional.

All four parliamentary parties participating in the elections are elected to the Kherson Regional Duma:

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation and A Just Russia were unable to overcome the five percent barrier to enter the legislative assembly of the Zaporozhye region, where only United Russia (83.87%) and the Liberal Democratic Party (5.67%) will be represented.

Three parliamentary parties are entering the DPR parliament:

All parliamentary parties will be represented in the LPR parliament, with the exception of “New People”, which participated in the elections but did not overcome the 5 percent barrier:

Yabloko managed to get into the Yekaterinburg City Duma: after processing 90% of the ballots, the party gained 9.29%, in addition, the party gained 6% in the DEG.

The factor of the special operation and the effect of “unity around the flag”, as well as the direct connection between the constant and multilateral activities of United Russia within the framework of the humanitarian mission in new regions, assistance to the families of special operation fighters, assistance to the front, became a factor in strengthening the electoral position of the party, said the senator from the LPR and deputy secretary General Council of United Russia Daria Lantratova. As a result, the party in power will form majority factions in the parliaments of all four new regions. According to her, there have been repeated attempts to disrupt the process of elections in new regions from Ukraine: air defense shot down two drones of the Ukrainian Armed Forces that were trying to attack a polling station in the Kherson region, and members of election commissions were provoked into violations by fake chats. In addition, on the night of September 10, a polling station in the Zaporozhye region was destroyed as a result of a drone attack.

Political scientist Konstantin Kalachev states that United Russia is a leader even in problematic regions. “I would associate the strengthening of the party’s positions both with the factor of consolidation in the face of external threats, and with the lack of strict counter-positioning on the part of opponents, who this time were not keen on criticizing the authorities,” he told Vedomosti. According to Kalachev, the left opposition is suffering losses, “which seems strange given the popularity of leftist ideas in society.” “But the population now correlates these ideas to a greater extent with the authorities than with the opposition,” the expert concluded.

The struggle between the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party for second place is intensifying, summarized political scientist Rostislav Turovsky. “The positions of A Just Russia are becoming even weaker.” On the contrary, we can see the “New People”’s spot successes where they most actively invested in the campaign,” he noted.