Russia's CEC Chairwoman Pamfilova summarizes 2026 State Duma election results

MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/. The State Duma election campaign was held amid unprecedented threats and differed markedly from all previous elections, Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova said at a meeting summing up the results of the State Duma elections.

She noted that voter turnout in the State Duma elections reached 59.8%, with the United Russia party winning 349 seats.

According to Pamfilova, roughly 75 polling station buildings in 11 regions across Russia were damaged as a result of targeted attacks by the Ukrainian military during the recent elections.

TASS has summarized key statements by the CEC chairwoman.

Voter turnout

Voter turnout in the State Duma elections in 2026 was 59.8%, "a total of 67,448,094 people cast their ballots."

In 2021, 51.82% of voters, or 56,484,685 people, cast their ballots, while in 2016, 47.88% of voters, or 52,700,992 people, did so, according to CEC data.

Participants in the special military operation were described as "the most active and engaged voters, who fully understand what they are fighting for and how important stability on the home front is, with elections being an important part of that order."

Results

Following the results of the State Duma elections, the United Russia party secured 349 seats, the Communist Party (CPRF) received 37 seats, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) received 23 seats, the New People party secured 19 seats, A Just Russia received 17 seats, and Rodina received one seat.

As many as four independent candidates also secured seats in the State Duma.

A total of 46 veterans of the special military operation were elected to the State Duma, including 41 from United Russia.

The average age of State Duma deputies has fallen from 57 to 53 following the elections: "The State Duma has gotten a bit younger. It was not old before, but it has gotten younger."

The State Duma has undergone a significant renewal following the elections: "This is a significant renewal. Nearly half of the deputies will be new. But a very strong core, which worked admirably and effectively in the previous Duma, remains."

Remote electronic voting

Remote electronic voting proceeded normally during the elections, with no major disruptions reported.

More than seven million people in 33 regions participated in remote electronic voting: "This year’s remote electronic voting coverage included more than 640 electoral campaigns and over 3,600 types of ballots. The total number of voters who participated in remote electronic voting, including Moscow, exceeded seven million."

United Russia ranked first based on the results of remote electronic voting.

New People came in second, followed by the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia.

According to the CEC, United Russia received 50.79% of the vote, New People got 13.04%, the CPRF received 11.45%, the LDPR won 8.97% and A Just Russia got 6.34%.

Voting abroad

More than 280,000 people voted at polling stations abroad during the elections: "As planned, 333 polling stations were opened in 152 countries, including seven in the city of Baikonur, Kazakhstan. A total of 280,355 people participated in the elections [abroad]."

United Russia won the vote abroad in the State Duma elections, receiving more than 58% of the ballots cast, with 162,355 people supporting it.

The LDPR was backed by 14,683 people, or 5.2%, the CPRF was supported by 28,970 people, or 10.3%, A Just Russia had 16,027 backers, or 5.7%, while the New People party was supported by 37,122 people, or 13.2%.

Invalid ballots, violations

Despite calls to spoil ballots, these campaigns failed to gain support.

The share of invalid ballots stood at 1.36%.

Among the main reasons for declaring ballots invalid were their improper insertion into the ballot box, damage to seals and stamps and violations of outdoor voting procedures.

As many as 17 precinct election commission members were removed in four regions, with six of them from the Yabloko party.

During the election campaign, the CEC received a total of 6,598 appeals and "only 766 appeals contained information about alleged violations, which is four times fewer than in 2021."

The CEC did everything possible to reduce cases of voter coercion: "I would like to point out significant changes in appeals related to coercion to vote - we carried out enormous preventive work so that no one would dare to force people, so that no one was doing it at gunpoint. And it [the work] paid off - only 31 appeals, which is five times fewer than in 2021."

Observers

Observers representing virtually every continent monitored the elections: "We even broke the record set during the presidential election. There were 1,126 observers and experts from 133 countries - meaning virtually every continent on Earth."

The courage of observers who came from Western countries known for their anti-Russian policies deserves particular respect: "They knew that they were going [to Russia] and putting themselves at risk not in Russia, but at home upon their return. Unfortunately, these facts are being confirmed. That is their freedom of speech and human rights, which they spent years lecturing us about."

No observers from North Korea came to the State Duma elections, but there were observers from South Korea.

A total of 976 people out of more than 41,000 applicants were not allowed to observe the elections: "In 25 regions, 976 people out of 41,610 declared observers were not permitted to monitor [the elections]."

During the voting days, 15 observers from parties were removed from polling stations: "During the voting days, out of 184,106 observers sent by parties, 15 people were removed from polling stations by court decision."

This was "the largest removal compared to previous campaigns," when in 2021 only three observers were removed and in 2024 there were two such cases.

Unprecedented threats

The election campaign was held amid unprecedented threats: "As we have repeatedly said, this campaign differed significantly from all previous ones. And, certainly, from the similar campaign held in peaceful conditions in 2021. Above all, it differed in that it took place amid an escalation of unprecedented, diverse threats."

The 2026 single voting day was the most difficult to organize in post-Soviet Russian history: "The combination of the enormous scale of the campaign, which was truly extensive and multi-level, and its conduct under a complicated operational situation, under sanctions and external pressure, allows us to say that the 2026 single voting day was the most complex election campaign in terms of organization in the history of new Russia."

Ensuring security

The CEC set itself the task of ensuring the security and transparency of the elections, and successfully completed it: "We were faced with an extremely difficult task, which we have successfully accomplished. That is, while ensuring maximum security, we maintained all our fundamental principles of openness and transparency in the electoral process."

Multi-day voting proved to be the key factor in ensuring security: "In this campaign, three-day voting turned out to be one of the most important factors in ensuring security, because it allowed us to spread out citizens and avoid large crowds, given the threats of terrorist attacks and drones that we had anticipated."

Cyberattacks

About 28 million potentially dangerous cyberattacks have been recorded on the CEC’s resources since the start of the election campaign: "From the start of the election campaign through September 22, we recorded approximately 28 million potentially dangerous cyberattacks from the Internet on the Russian CEC’s website, including direct attacks on all our digital resources. Specifically, during the voting and vote-counting days on September 18-22, there were over 14.7 million potentially dangerous attacks from the Internet on the Russian CEC website and our digital resources."

Attackers failed to breach the robust protection systems safeguarding Russia’s digital election services: "I think no country could have withstood attacks of this intensity."

As many as 13 waves of targeted DDoS attacks were recorded, with a total duration of 468 minutes.

Threats to election officials

Election officials faced significant pressure and received constant threats during the campaign: "A constant flow of threats, provocations and mass mailings of fake letters, for example, those sent in the name of the CEC chair demanding that governors stop vote preparations. On the letterhead you can see my signature, you cannot tell it apart."

"Our people are rock-solid. Nothing broke them. I would like to say that, on the contrary, even in the most difficult conditions, they proved themselves incredibly competent, quick and united."

Roughly 75 polling station buildings in 11 regions across Russia were damaged as a result of targeted attacks by the Ukrainian military during the recent elections: "In 11 regions, 75 buildings housing territorial and precinct election commissions were damaged or completely destroyed and were not accidentally affected by fallen debris or anything else. These were targeted attacks."

As many as six election commission members were killed during the campaign as a result of attacks that Russian officials attributed to forces under Vladimir Zelensky.