Russia's United Russia party wins parliamentary election

Russia's electoral commission on Monday said that the ruling United Russia party has won the parliamentary election.

It's the first parliamentary poll since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin has cast it as a referendum of support for what is termed in Russia, the "special military operation."

Parties that support Putin and the Kremlin's war in Ukraine are the only ones registered to run, and the opposition was barred from taking part.

The polls took place amid rising prices, a crackdown on political opponents and the internet, fuel shortages and rumors of another mobilization drive following the elections.

What do we know about the Russian election results?

The Central Election Commission said that with 95% of ballots counted, the party of Russian President Vladimir Putin won 57.83% of the vote.

Commission chair Ella Pamfilova said that according to the preliminary results, United Russia would get 355 seats in the 450-seat Duma, giving the party around 20 more seats than it currently holds and marking the strongest result in its history.

The parliamentary vote was also the first to include residents of four regions in Ukraine — those being Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — that were occupied and illegally annexed by Moscow later that year.

Voting was also held in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Kyiv denounced the voting in those regions as illegal.

Chechen ally receives nearly 100% of vote

Russia's electoral commission also announced that close Putin ally, Ramzan Kadyrov, has been re-elected to a fifth term as leader of Chechnya, a Russian republic in the North Caucasus region.

Electoral officials said he achieved 99.85% of the vote, a slight improvement from the 99.73% garnered in 2021.

International observers have previously severely criticised electoral processes in the small region.

Kadyrov's government has been accused of widespread rights violations by human rights organizations, including targeting journalists and homosexuals, something he denies.