Russia Election: 2nd Place Party List in Saint Petersburg?

Elections to regional legislative assemblies were held in thirty-nine constituent entities on a single voting day, with 1,800 deputies elected. In total, there were more than half as many campaigns in 2026 as in the 2021 federal cycle. According to Alexander Kynev (in the register of foreign agents in the Russian Federation), there were 4,370 election campaigns then (versus 2,081 in 2026). The decline is explained by municipal reform, which reduced the number of elections as such. This circumstance also influenced the competitiveness of this year's legislative assembly elections. One of the most interesting stories: the elections to the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg. For the first time, New People took second place (with a result of about 12%). Nezygar's sources attribute this to the desire of Alexander Beglov's administration to change elite groups, paying homage to Sergei Kiriyenko-Yuri Kovalchuk, and to strengthen the Legislative Assembly with completely loyal representatives. In Primorsky Krai, the LDPR overtook the CPRF for the first time in the history of regional elections, and this was done not by improving its results, but by significantly weakening the CPRF, which Governor Oleg Kozhemyako was interested in. In the Leningrad Region, according to sources, the administration of Alexander Drozdenko, on orders from the Presidential Executive Office, was systematically weakening the CPRF, which was creating problems for the governor personally. The results of the elections to the Legislative Assembly resulted in the LDPR coming in second. Interesting results in the Vologda Region. "United Russia" won with a low result of less than 32%: the reason is the confrontation between the current governor Georgy Filimonov and "Severstal", which is muted, but continues with limited publicity. In the Kirov region, "United Russia" also had a very unclear result (33.5%), in second place is the LDPR (more than 19%), then the CPRF (16.2%). In terms of turnout, the picture is quite contrasting, but the factor of the Duma elections provided a natural (non-falsifiable) increase in turnout everywhere. The leaders in turnout in the legislative assemblies are the electoral sultanates (the North Caucasus, plus Stavropol and Tuva). Outsiders are the Irkutsk region, Khakassia, Novosibirsk region, Krasnoyarsk Krai (from 27.3% to 36%). One of the important results of the regional legislative assembly elections: the Communist Party of the Russian Federation took second place in twenty-six of thirty-nine regions. The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia took second place in seven regions, and New People only in one, albeit a very important one (St. Petersburg). A Just Russia took second place in three regions (Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Chechnya). All regions are classified as electoral sultanates, and second place, according to sources, was achieved as a result of agreements between Sergei Mironov and the regional leaders. However, they lost their anchor city of St. Petersburg, and the Rodina party also lost its anchor region, Tambov Oblast.

Elections to regional legislative assemblies were held in thirty-nine constituent entities on a single voting day, with 1,800 deputies elected. In total, there were more than half as many campaigns in 2026 as in the 2021 federal cycle. According to Alexander Kynev (in the register of foreign agents in the Russian Federation), there were 4,370 election campaigns then (versus 2,081 in 2026). The decline is explained by municipal reform, which reduced the number of elections as such. This circumstance also influenced the competitiveness of this year's legislative assembly elections. One of the most interesting stories: the elections to the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg. For the first time, New People took second place (with a result of about 12%). Nezygar's sources attribute this to the desire of Alexander Beglov's administration to change elite groups, paying homage to Sergei Kiriyenko-Yuri Kovalchuk, and to strengthen the Legislative Assembly with completely loyal representatives. In Primorsky Krai, the LDPR overtook the CPRF for the first time in the history of regional elections, and this was done not by improving its results, but by significantly weakening the CPRF, which Governor Oleg Kozhemyako was interested in. In the Leningrad Region, according to sources, the administration of Alexander Drozdenko, on orders from the Presidential Executive Office, was systematically weakening the CPRF, which was creating problems for the governor personally. The results of the elections to the Legislative Assembly resulted in the LDPR coming in second. Interesting results in the Vologda Region. "United Russia" won with a low result of less than 32%: the reason is the confrontation between the current governor Georgy Filimonov and "Severstal", which is muted, but continues with limited publicity. In the Kirov region, "United Russia" also had a very unclear result (33.5%), in second place is the LDPR (more than 19%), then the CPRF (16.2%). In terms of turnout, the picture is quite contrasting, but the factor of the Duma elections provided a natural (non-falsifiable) increase in turnout everywhere. The leaders in turnout in the legislative assemblies are the electoral sultanates (the North Caucasus, plus Stavropol and Tuva). Outsiders are the Irkutsk region, Khakassia, Novosibirsk region, Krasnoyarsk Krai (from 27.3% to 36%). One of the important results of the regional legislative assembly elections: the Communist Party of the Russian Federation took second place in twenty-six of thirty-nine regions. The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia took second place in seven regions, and New People only in one, albeit a very important one (St. Petersburg). A Just Russia took second place in three regions (Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Chechnya). All regions are classified as electoral sultanates, and second place, according to sources, was achieved as a result of agreements between Sergei Mironov and the regional leaders. However, they lost their anchor city of St. Petersburg, and the Rodina party also lost its anchor region, Tambov Oblast.

So-called smart voting has eliminated opposition candidates from the race for Duma seats in several constituencies during the State Duma elections, Nezygar has discovered. Yabloko was the hardest-hit party in the September 20 State Duma elections: first, the Supreme Court ruled to disqualify its list, followed by 27 candidates in single-mandate constituencies. Despite this, candidates from the party were present in 100 constituencies. Yulia Navalnaya, who is listed as an extremist and terrorist by Rosfinmonitoring, and foreign agent Maxim Katz called for voting for 81 Yabloko candidates in constituencies as part of so-called smart voting. "Thanks to" these recommendations, Yabloko members in several constituencies acted as spoilers for United Russia candidates and deprived representatives of other parties who were genuinely vying for seats. The most striking example of such "spoiling" could be observed in the Cherepovets single-mandate constituency of the Vologda region, where Svetlana Gracheva, head of the Kaduy district, nominated by United Russia, beat Alexander Morozov, a member of the Legislative Assembly from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, by just 1%. Gracheva received 25.42% of the vote, while Morozov received 24.39%. Navalnaya and Katz called for voting in this district for Vladimir Nikolaev, a Yabloko member, who ultimately received 5.99%. If not for the so-called smart voting, the United Russia candidate would most likely have lost to the Communist Party in the Cherepovets district. In the Vologda single-mandate constituency, Sergei Selyanin, former head of the Totemsky district, won with 34.16%. Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) deputy Oleg Ershov received 17.64% of the vote, while Yabloko candidate Nikolai Egorov, favored by Navalnaya and Katz, received 6.39%. Had they recommended voting for the Communist, the outcome in this district could have been completely different. Similar cases of protest votes being effectively siphoned off in favor of United Russia were recorded in the Barabinsky district of Novosibirsk Oblast, the South-Eastern district of St. Petersburg, and the Rostov district of Yaroslavl Oblast. In these districts, Yabloko members, following "smart voting" recommendations, received between 5.95% and 8.53% of the vote. Additional list of State Duma candidates with criminal records. In the Moscow single-mandate constituency agreed upon in Tatarstan, Ruslan Yusupov, a member of the republic's parliament, wins for the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). He has a history of convictions for abuse of power, robbery, and theft. All convictions were expunged in 2000. To ensure Yusupov's election, Alexei Grushin, a United Russia member and deputy general director of JSC Khimgrad, withdrew from the constituency in July in his favor. The withdrawal was technical: Grushin simply failed to submit the necessary documents. After 100% of the ballots were processed, Yusupov received 51.77% of the vote.

How A Just Russia achieved a historically low percentage of votes in the elections

Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won a record supermajority in the Duma, authorities announce after a tightly controlled three-day election without parties critical of the Kremlin or the war in Ukraine •