Putin’s party wins a record supermajority in election

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won a record supermajority in strictly controlled parliamentary elections held September 18–20, Reuters reported yesterday. The parliamentary vote marks the first since Putin launched Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022: It gives Putin’s party more than three quarters of the seats in the nation’s lower house. With all meaningful opposition excluded, international election monitors banned. and armed soldiers supervising many voting stations, a pro-Putin result was never in doubt. Nevertheless, polls indicate that most Russians continue to support Putin and the war on Ukraine, even if the election numbers exaggerate the depth of that support. Analysts say he can now present the vote as a strong mandate to escalate the conflict if he chooses.