Russian parliamentary elections are set to deliver a comfortable win to the ruling United Russia party, which is closely aligned to President Vladimir Putin. With more than 70 per cent of ballots counted, United Russia had taken 57.5 per cent of the vote.
The Communist Party was on 14 per cent and the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party on 8.7 per cent. Smaller parties loyal to the Kremlin, including New People and Just Russia, were also on track to win seats in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev said the result showed voters had entrusted United Russia to continue governing.
The vote was the first since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin had framed the vote as a test of support for the war.
No party that opposed the war was permitted to run, with Russia's Supreme Court removing the anti-war Yabloko party from the ballot weeks beforehand.
Voting was overshadowed by a huge Ukrainian drone barrage at the weekend. The strikes killed three people in the Moscow region and two more in the Russian-held part of Ukraine's Kherson region, including an election official.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called it the biggest such attack yet, but said it had failed to disrupt polling.
“This unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” he said.
Ella Pamfilova, Chair of Russia's Central Election Commission, said the latest attacks had not deterred voters.
“The more pressure they put on us, the more we are seeing an unprecedented level of what I would call public unity,” Russia’s state-owned RIA news agency quoted her as saying.
Russia’s Defence Ministry accused Kyiv of trying to disrupt the “democratic will” of Russian citizens and pledging to intensify strikes.
Election authorities also reported cyberattacks on voting systems over the three-day poll, though they said the process had run smoothly overall.
Ukraine, which has suspended its own elections under martial law, has dismissed the Russian vote as illegitimate.
Overnight Russian strikes on the city of Sumy, northeast Ukraine, have killed one woman and injured a man, the country's State Emergency Servic...
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Russian parliamentary elections are set to deliver a comfortable win to the ruling United Russia party, which is closely aligned to President Vladi...
Houthi attacks target Riyadh amid concerns over Saudi oil supplies, as Iran says it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until its conditions are met and U.S. commitments are implemented, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday.
Saudi civil defence sent an all-clear on Saturday after issuing alerts for a second time for potential danger in Riyadh and the city of Al-Kharj east of the capital, amid an uptick in attacks by Iran-aligned Houthis on the Gulf country.
The U.S. State Department approved a $2.7 billion military sale to Ukraine for air-defence development upgrades, along with related equipment and services, the department said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported at least 10 people had died in Russian attacks over the last 24 hours.
The death toll from an overnight Russian attack on the Kyiv region rose to four, including three children, Kyiv regional authorities said on Sunday. A mother and her two 3-year-old children were killed when a Russian drone strike hit a private home, the emergency service said.
Russian authorities have reported attacks on voting systems and communication lines as the country’s parliamentary election entered its second day on Saturday (19 September).
Overnight Russian strikes on the city of Sumy, northeast Ukraine, have killed one woman and injured a man, the country's State Emergency Service has said.
Baku is preparing to host its 10th Formula 1 race, with the city’s streets once again set to transform into one of the most demanding circuits on the F1 calendar.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) took first place in state elections in northeastern Germany on Sunday, voting projections showed, delivering the worst result for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's mainstream conservative party since 1949.
The Left Party won Sunday's Berlin state election with 25.5 per cent of the vote in the preliminary result, ahead of the Christian Democrats (CDU) on 19.1 per cent. This marks a major shift in the city's political landscape and a setback for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's ruling coalition.
A group of French nationals, suspected of belonging to the Islamic State (IS), on trial in Iraq could face execution, a member of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council told a hearing in Baghdad on Sunday.
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