In brief
- Russian parliamentary elections are taking place until Sunday.
- Though the result is effectively already decided, discontent is quietly rising about the war in Ukraine.
It is an election where the result is known before the ballots are counted.
Three days of voting in Russia's parliamentary elections started on Friday,
The United Russia party — fiercely loyal to the country's president, Vladimir Putin — will again be the big winner.
But that doesn't mean the vote to determine who sits in the Russian parliament, known as the Duma, isn't important to the president.
It is, because it's the first since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The conflict has since killed hundreds of thousands of people.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
The vote to renew the 450 seats in the Duma will run until Sunday.
Putin has ruled Russia since 1999 and his United Russia party has dominated Russian politics since the early 2000s.
Criticism of the war on Ukraine is banned in Russia, and only parties that support Putin and the Kremlin's dragging military campaign have been registered to run. Russia has also organised voting in occupied Ukraine.
Election 'about keeping the image', analyst says
Nikolai Petrov is a Russian political analyst and served as an adviser to the Kremlin in the early 1990s.
"Not so much are these elections about composition of the state Duma, it’s more or less predefined," he said.
"It’s about keeping the image that society is consolidated around the Kremlin."
Voting is taking place in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, as well as Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine's Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in another attempt to try and legitimise the occupation.
In Russia itself, Ukraine's strikes on oil and gas facilities, as well as online retailers' warehouses, have brought the conflict home.
What choices do voters really have?
The economy is under increasing strain, and discontent is quietly rising. But there are few options for voters seeking change.
Yabloko, the vocally pro-ceasefire party that had gained popularity through social media, was banned from running by the Supreme Court.
Some individual Yabloko candidates are contesting seats at great personal risk — several have been detained by police. But they're determined to have their voices heard.
Polina Lermant is one of them.
"It is very important for us now to tell people that they have an opportunity to vote for peace right now, to express their political position and say that we choose peace, that we choose a life free from fear, that we want our interests to be taken into account, and that we want Russia to prosper, develop and be at peace with everyone," she said.
Polls suggest growing support for peace talks, but the Kremlin is expected to use the election results to claim the vast majority of voters still back the president and, therefore, his war.
Much has been made of veterans of the conflict running as candidates, like Vladislav Golovin, who the Kremlin has been keen to promote.
"I am working not just for myself, but for the guys I couldn't protect or save," he said.
Yet the consequences of the four-and-a-half years of fighting have hardly been discussed during the campaign.
Petrov said it's "kind of an elephant in the room".
"If you look at the United Russia and other parties' program, you'll never see anything about the war," he said.
All 10 parties on the ballot support the war, and that suits many voters just fine.
The real story will be in the turnout, the margin of victory, and the level of coercion.
— With additional reporting by the Agence France-Presse news agency.
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.
