Russians head to the polls from Friday to Sunday to elect members of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, in the first parliamentary election to be held since the country launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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country → head → 2022
The vote comes as Russians face a slowing economy as well as Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries and warehouses far from the front line.
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Russians → come → line
United Russia, the governing party that backs President Vladimir Putin, is expected to keep its dominant position.
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that → govern → position
The authorities are presenting the election as a chance for voters to have their say.
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voters → present → say
Critics argue that with no genuine opposition on the ballot, the result is largely settled in advance.
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result → argue → advance
So why are the elections worth watching?
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elections → watch → ?
Here is what you need to know:
How do Russia’s elections work?
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elections → need → what
Starting Friday and lasting through Sunday, Russians will elect members of the lower house, the State Duma.
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Russians → start → house
They will also cast ballots in local elections.
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They → cast → elections
Voters in 11 regions will elect their governors, and 39 regions will elect members of regional legislatures.
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regions → elect → legislatures
Voting is spread over three days to boost turnout among the 111 million eligible voters and includes areas Russia occupies in Ukraine.
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Russia → spread → Ukraine
Electronic voting is allowed.
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voting → allow → ?
Half of the Duma’s 450 seats are filled by party lists and the other half are contested in single-ballot races.
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half → fill → races
Russia’s governing party, formed in 2001 from a merger of pro-Kremlin parties, has backed Putin and dominated the parliament ever since.
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party → govern → parliament
United Russia won more than two-thirds of the Duma’s seats in the 2021 election.
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Russia → win → election
It is again poised to dominate the body.
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It → poise → body
The party’s list is led by political heavyweights: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat for 22 years, and Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow’s powerful mayor.
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list → lead → years
In an apparent bid to add fresh faces to what is widely seen as a party of bureaucrats, its third-highest-ranking official is war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny, who was badly wounded by a Ukrainian drone.
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who → add → drone
Members of United Russia have pledged to back the war effort and Putin’s maximalist goals in what the Kremlin calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
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Kremlin → pledge → Ukraine
Who else is running in Russia’s elections?
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Who → run → elections
Alongside United Russia, other “systemic opposition” parties that vote in sync with the government on key issues are also expected to remain.
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that → vote → issues
The liberal Yabloko Party, the only registered political party that opposes the war, was initially on the ballot, but the Supreme Court ordered it removed in August.
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it → register → August
It cited, among other reasons, that the antiwar stance was akin to seeking the violation of Russia’s territorial integrity.
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stance → cite → integrity
Yabloko now runs only single-ballot races.
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Yabloko → run → races
The Communist Party has been a leading force in the Federal Assembly since the 1990s, led for more than three decades by 82-year-old Gennady Zyuganov, a former Soviet official.
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Party → lead → Zyuganov
Throughout Putin’s rule of more than a quarter-century, the Communists have criticised some aspects of government policy but carefully avoided any criticism of him.
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Communists → criticise → him
They steadfastly support the war in Ukraine.
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They → support → Ukraine
Alexander Bratersky, a political analyst and independent journalist, told Al Jazeera that the race for second place is worth watching.
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race → tell → place
If the Communist Party nab second, it would “suggest voters are angry about economic hardship and falling living standards”.
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voters → nab → hardship
The Liberal Democratic Party, an ultranationalist force that has been a significant presence in the legislature since the early 1990s, will also likely retain some influence in the Duma.
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that → retain → Duma
Like the Communists, it staunchly supports the war and boasts of having multiple veterans as members.
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it → support → members
Other smaller parties round out the ballot.
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parties → round → ballot
The party known as A Just Russia has been on Russia’s political scene for 20 years.
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party → know → years
A social-democratic party, it competes with the Communists for older and middle-aged voters nostalgic for the Soviet past, and it supports the war in Ukraine.
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it → compete → Ukraine
The New People Party was founded shortly before the last parliamentary election in 2021, seeking to position itself as a liberal voice representing younger voters and technocrats.
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Party → found → voters
It won just more than 5 percent of the vote, allowing it to form a small faction.
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it → win → faction
Bratersky described the party as “a liberal-leaning party backed by some Kremlin people who are more technocratic and more pro-peace”.
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who → describe → people
He said it appeals to the “middle-class audience”, and after the Kremlin banned Yabloko, it has been viewed as its substitute.
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it → say → substitute
“So, if they come third with a good number of votes, this is a sign that those who are antiwar used them as their legal avatar,” he said.
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he → come → avatar
Other parties seeking seats include Communists of Russia, a small rival of the main Communist Party; the Party of Pensioners; the Green Party; the Party of Direct Democracy; and the Motherland Party.
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parties → seek → Democracy
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
