In All Gubernatorial “Elections” Incumbent Regional Heads Were Re-Elected, in All Parliamentary “Elections” United Russia Won

On September 8, gubernatorial elections were held in 21 regions of Russia. All of them were won by incumbent governors or acting heads of the regions.

All of them received from 60 to 80% of the votes. One of the lowest results was in the Kursk Oblast, where Alexei Smirnov, the new acting head of the region, was appointed by Putin in May, and the AFU offensive began in August. Smirnov received 65% of the vote.

In Khabarovsk Krai, the region’s acting head Dmitry Demeshin received 81.03%. The United Russia candidate “won” in this region for the first time in nine years. The previous two governors — Sergei Furgal and Mikhail Degtyarev — were elected from the LDPR. Demeshin was elected with a record low turnout, local publication DVHAB noted. 32.88% of voters took part in the election, the lowest figure in the history of gubernatorial campaigns in the region.

The Movement for Defence of Voters’ Rights Golos writes that this year — unlike last one — there was no competitive gubernatorial election campaign.

United Russia won all parliamentary elections (they were held in 10 regions).

In the regional parliament of Khabarovsk Krai, United Russia received 45% of the vote, despite the fact that the LDPR candidates had been leading there since 2019. This year, they received 16.75%.

In the Moscow City Duma, representatives of United Russia tentatively receive 85% of the seats (38 out of 45).

In Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk, the turnout for the elections to the City Council and City Duma was record low: 18.97% and 13.12%, respectively.

In the by-election of deputies to the Tomsk City Duma in the districts where Navalny’s associates Andrei Fateyev and Ksenia Fadeyeva were elected deputies, Sergei Sechenov, a participant in the war in Ukraine, and Diana Smoleva, head of the local branch of the Zashchitniki Otechestva (“Defenders of the Fatherland”) foundation, were leading.

The participant of the war in Ukraine, Roman Igolkin, who was nominated from United Russia, became a deputy of the Ryazan Regional Duma, Ostorozhno Novosti notes.

The map of election violations recorded 643 appeals. Among them — transportation and bribery of voters, and attempts to throw in votes. In some regions, according to the Central Election Commission of Russia, voters came “as scheduled” — that is, at different times of the day the same concentration of visitors was recorded at the polling station.

In Moscow, voters were denied paper ballots. As Golos notes, at the beginning of July 2024, the Moscow City Election Commission made a decision according to which in order to vote by paper ballot in Moscow elections, one must apply in advance. It is extremely difficult to do this.