moscow —
“The candidates have not appeared in our studio, so we will say goodbye for now,” Russia 1 state TV anchor Elizaveta Dorokhina told viewers inside the studio, with three empty lecterns visible on either side of her. The broadcast cut to a commercial break.
In Ryazan, a city 192 miles southeast of the Russian capital, all six registered candidates did not attend a televised debate ahead of the upcoming election.
Russia is holding its first parliamentary elections since the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but it is taking place in a political climate where there is virtually no critical opposition, with opponents locked out or fleeing the country. Voters will elect 450 members of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament.
Empty studios offer a glimpse into the democratic rituals Russia is so passionate about displaying: candidates, debates, and elected officials. Projecting an image of stability and due process is a cornerstone of President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Voting will take place for three days starting Friday. The United Russia party, which supports President Putin and has dominated Russian domestic politics for more than two decades, is widely expected to win a majority of seats. The voting regions also include Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine such as Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.
Russia’s only registered anti-war party, Yabloko (Russian for “Apple”), was temporarily allowed to participate until it was banned by the Supreme Court last month.
Grigory Yavlinsky, co-founder of Yabloko and a prominent liberal Russian politician, told CNN that the Kremlin was surprised by its support for the party and its core message of calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
“Those who oppose are outcasts and enemies.”
Although Putin himself is not on the ballot, he has led Russia for more than two decades and casts a long shadow over its politics.
“Russia’s political system is a rigid, individualistic regime with imitative institutions,” Andrei Kolesnikov, a Moscow-based political analyst and columnist for New Times and Novaya Gazeta, told CNN.
Kolesnikov, who has been labeled a “foreign agent” by Russian authorities, added: “Elections have no influence on the nature of predetermined policies. The main purpose of elections is to demonstrate to the people the ‘majority effect’. Everyone is ‘in’ with Putin’s policies, and those who oppose them are outcasts and enemies.”
The vote, now in its fifth year, comes against a backdrop of creeping social tensions within Russia as the Kremlin continues to promote war in Ukraine. Long-range attacks in Ukraine are yet another reminder of war, while internet restrictions and crackdowns on civil society and opposition are affecting many Russians.
Drone strikes deep into Russian territory in Kiev aimed at forcing the Kremlin into negotiations have shattered any illusions that the results of what Moscow calls a “special military operation” will be far from ordinary Russians.
There have been losses of life and injuries (though not on the same scale as in Ukraine), but crucially, strikes at the country’s refineries have caused widespread fuel shortages and queues of cars in major cities, while the blow to Russia’s largest online retailer has increased pressure on an already strained wartime economy.
That anxiety was reflected in the mood among voters in Moscow on a cold, crisp September day a week before the election. Raisa, a Moscow voter who, like everyone CNN spoke to, declined to give her full name, said she hopes to elect “worthy people” who think about “simple people” and their needs. Asked what she wanted the future to be, she said, “I think a lot of people would say that. Peace. I really want it all to end,” she said, with a delicate nod to war.
Marina Alexandrovna, 73, told CNN she hasn’t decided who to vote for but “always votes,” adding: “It’s not about who votes, it’s about who counts the votes.” Regarding the current political situation in Russia, she said: “We know what life is and what laws are passed. I don’t like it, but there is nothing we would change.”
Moscow authorities have introduced a significant incentive for residents of the capital in the form of points for prizes if they vote online or at electronic voting terminals at polling stations rather than by paper ballot. Critics have long questioned the Kremlin’s introduction of electronic voting because they say it lacks transparency.
The main feature of these elections is that 186 veterans of the Ukrainian war are running as candidates for the State Duma, and in addition more than 1,500 former military personnel are running for local government positions. This follows the “Era of Heroes” program launched by President Putin in 2024 to train veteran military veterans for government and civil service roles. Of the veteran candidates contacted by CNN, not one requested an interview.
Only anti-war political parties are prohibited from standing.
Perhaps those excluded from the vote have more say than the candidates who are allowed to participate.
Yabloko was removed from the electoral register just days after the pro-Kremlin nationalist party Rodina (Fatherland in Russian) filed a lawsuit against the party, citing foreign funding and copyright infringement. Yabloko’s leadership insists the move is politically motivated.
At party headquarters in Moscow, a running counter records the number of days that have passed since Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022, and next to it is a copy of Vasily Vereshchagin’s painting of a pyramid of human skulls beneath a circling crow. The 19th century Russian painter became famous for his work depicting the horrors of war. The image feels like a personal monument to Russia’s suppressed anti-war movement.
Irina Busygina, a Russian political scientist now based in Berlin, said the Kremlin’s decision to initially allow Yabloko to run in parliamentary elections was a “low-risk experiment.”
Bidygina believes that Kremlin political operatives saw a surge in interest in Yabloko calling for a peace deal with Ukraine online, especially among young people, and moved to neutralize the party, which had hundreds of candidates registered across the country.
“(Putin) could not have prepared for a situation in which liberal democracies like Yabloko would have such strong domestic support,” co-founder Yavlinsky said.
“Russia still doesn’t have democracy. We started reforms 30 years ago, but they completely failed. That’s why we continue to have an authoritarian regime that is not ready for democratic elections.”
Yavlinskiy added that those allowed to run in the elections “100% support the Kremlin’s current political line,” while Yabloko is an opponent who “calls for an immediate ceasefire and an alternative: moving to negotiations with Ukraine, Europe and the United States.”
Yavlinsky, who has been in Russian politics for 35 years, said he does not expect any surprises from the election, but hopes Russia begins diplomatic negotiations soon. The Russian government “must find a common language with Europe, Ukraine and the United States, because that is the only way forward. We need to avoid the possibility of nuclear war,” he said.
Observers may question the point of holding an election in which no meaningful opposition is allowed and the outcome appears largely predetermined.
Russia has long criticized Ukraine for not holding elections during the war, even calling it “unjust” because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not hold an election at the end of his term. Zelenskiy said it would be “impossible” to hold elections while Ukraine is embroiled in war. Ukraine’s constitution prohibits holding elections under martial law, which was introduced after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Experts overwhelmingly agree that the election results will be used to strengthen Putin’s wartime mission. Rumors abound on Russian social media channels about further mobilization after the elections to boost Russia’s human resources in Ukraine, which the Kremlin vehemently denies.
“This election will be presented as further justification for special (military) operations and domestic political repression that is much harsher than what was seen in the late Soviet era and the most brutal restrictions on the rights of citizens,” Kolesnikov said.
But some on the streets of Moscow are optimistic that the future will be brighter. Oleg, 63, said: “There will be some stability for ordinary people…and in the future there will be improved relations with good people abroad, both in the West and in the East.”
President Putin’s continued emphasis on addressing the “root causes” of the war and achieving his original goals, including the demilitarization and conquest of Ukraine, suggests that it may be a long way off.
