Statement on the Russian election 2026

Statement of 21 September 2026 by the Russian Election Monitor, an expert project partnered with EPDE. It describes a tightly controlled vote without genuine competition: since 2021 party lists fell by 27 per cent and single-member candidates by 25 per cent, and challengers were removed through 'extremism' fines and criminal cases. It recounts Yabloko's removal on 10 August and Lev Shlosberg's 11-year sentence a week later; reports coercion of public-sector employees (74 cases counted by Na Ravnykh, about 217 on a violations map); documents ballot stuffing, carousel voting and home-voting abuse in Komi, Mari El, Voronezh, Moscow and Leningrad region; and says nearly 1,527 Communist and Yabloko observers were refused entry on the first day. It estimates real turnout below 50 per cent and United Russia's support at 35–42 per cent, and notes that over 4.4 million of about 4.7 million early votes came from front-line and occupied regions, whose results are not published by polling station.