By Nitya Chakraborty
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to tighten his grip on Russian Parliament, as the Russians start their polling on Friday, September 18, to elect a state Duma consisting of 450 members for the next five-year period. The parliamentary elections are being held for the first time since the starting of war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022. So, the Russian voters will be giving their verdict on their popular President’s “special military operation” against Ukraine for the last four years and seven months.
According to Russian election authorities, about 111 million registered voters are eligible in the 2026 parliamentary elections. Russia has eleven different time zones, in different regions, the local time will vary from GMT+2 to GMT+12. Out of the total of 450 seats in state Duma, half of them are filled through party candidates and the remaining half through individuals competing. Eleven political parties are taking part in the 2026 elections.
In 2021 Duma elections, out of the 450 seats, President Putin’s United Russia Party got 326 seats, the Russian Communist Party-57,A Just Russia for Truth 26 seats, and Liberal Democratic Party 23 seats. Though this election eleven political parties are registered for contesting, the ballot includes ruling United Russia Party and the other four parties currently represented in the Duma, the Communist Party, LDP, A Just Russia and New People.
The election is expected to be monitored by foreign observers from around 55 countries, including representatives of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as countries from Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Russia has not invited the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to observe the three-day polling.
In the present Russian Federation, the Communist Party, which ruled the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991, is still the main opposition party, but it operates within a framework of understanding with President Putin. The Communist Party supports President Putin’s Ukraine war and many of the initiatives of the Russian President having ambitious nationalist overtone. The Communist Party holds its own rallies in favour of the demands of the workers or against price rise, but finally those do not take on any anti-Putin thrust.
This writer has visited Russia four times – twice during the Soviet Union days, and twice during the Putin era. In 1975, this correspondent visited Moscow and Sochi representing New Age weekly to attend Pravda newspaper’s annual birthday celebrations. Then in 1986, this writer visited Soviet Union for three weeks on behalf of The Economic Times to bring out an international feature on the changing Soviet Union. It was on the eve of the historic 28th CPSU party congress under Mikhail Gorbachev in February 1986.
The entire Soviet Union was at crossroads at that time with the debate on Glasnost and Perestroika proposed by Gorbachev in his report at the party congress. I had the opportunity to have long discussions with some of the CPSU leaders and also attended two internal meetings at the local party level, which witnessed deep division among the members.
Then I visited Russia under President Putin in 2002 and saw the change in the mood of the younger people, how they are looking at West as the model and were enjoying the freedoms they got. Then in 2005, again, I visited Russia as a part of media delegation of the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and witnessed the changes in the attitude of the common Russians.
In 2026, President Putin is ruling Russia with an iron hand, but at the same time, he responds very fast to the demands and aspirations of the young Russians. Russian people are living a good quality of life, under a guided authoritarian rule of President Putin, but they are reconciled to it. So is Gennady Zyuganov, the general secretary of the Russian Communist Party, who has been in this position since 1993.
The election results will be announced on September 20 night or September 21. All projections indicate President Putin to emerge stronger. A strong Putin is good for India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India can depend on a stronger Putin to help more in the current trade war when Trump is again imposing 100 per cent tariffs on India and China for buying Russian oil. (IPA Service)
