A small victory for ultranationalists Russia’s latest elections deliver predictable wins for Kremlin-backed candidates, and a new runner-up
This past weekend, Russians went to the polls for the country’s so-called unified voting day (which, in practice, lasts for three days). The elections brought predictable wins for Kremlin-backed candidates. And with some help from Putin’s administration, the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) edged out the Communist Party (KPRF) for second place. Meduza special correspondent Andrey Pertsev explains how the races played out.
Over the weekend, voters across Russia elected governors, regional parliament deputies, municipal councils members, and mayors.
After polls closed, Central Election Commission (CEC) chair Ella Pamfilova announced that there had been “no incidents” during the vote. Dmitry Medvedev, head of the ruling United Russia party and deputy chair of the Security Council, described the elections as having taken place “essentially under combat conditions” — apparently referring to Ukrainian drone strikes.
According to the CEC, nearly 150,000 observers were present at polling stations. But organizations independent of the Kremlin have been barred from receiving official observer status since 2016. That same year, new limits were also introduced on how many observers candidates and parties can register.
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How the gubernatorial elections played out
According to official tallies, a pro-Kremlin candidate won in every region that held gubernatorial elections this past weekend: 19 members of United Russia and one self-nominated candidate, Oleg Nikolayev of A Just Russia, who is the sitting head of the Chuvash Republic. (President Vladimir Putin had endorsed his candidacy ahead of the vote.)
Last year, according to the CEC, seven Kremlin-backed candidates cleared the 80 percent mark. This year, there were eight. All of them were either incumbents seeking re-election or acting governors appointed in advance of the vote. Seven other Kremlin nominees won between 70 and 80 percent of the vote, while five more came in between 60 and 70 percent.
United Russia’s Yevgeny Pervyshov, acting head of the Tambov region, officially received 74.3 percent. A graduate of the Kremlin’s “Time of Heroes” program meant to prepare war veterans for public service, Pervyshov was presented during the campaign as a “participant in the special military operation.” Before his appointment to Tambov in November 2024, he had served as mayor of Krasnodar and later as a State Duma deputy from the region. Local media in Krasnodar questioned whether he had ever actually seen combat.
Experts from the independent election watchdog Golos consider Tambov a region especially prone to falsification. Even so, Pervyshov’s showing was weak compared to his predecessors. In 2022, United Russia’s Maxim Yegorov won 84 percent (he was arrested in 2025, after leaving office, on large-scale bribery charges). Another former governor, Alexander Nikitin, took 79 percent in 2020.
The lowest result among incumbents this year went to Igor Kobzev, governor of Irkutsk. He officially received 60.79 percent of the vote. His opponent, Communist Party candidate Sergey Levchenko — who governed the region from 2015 to 2019 — won 22.64 percent, the strongest performance for any candidate from Russia’s “systemic opposition” nationwide.
Irkutsk and Kamchatka Krai are both regions the Kremlin viewed as potentially protest-prone. In this election, incumbent Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov won 62 percent. The local administration organized makeshift outdoor voting, which they claimed was necessary for voters’ safety after an earthquake struck the region on July 30. Another tremor hit off Kamchatka’s eastern coast on September 13.
Ahead of the vote, Solodov saw his serious rivals disappear. In mid-June, the local branch of A Just Russia withdrew opposition journalist Alexandra Novikova from the race. Solodov went on to win comfortably, but voters still found ways to signal dissent: nearly five percent of ballots were spoiled, the highest rate in Russia.
According to the CEC, the biggest margin overall went to Rustam Minnikhanov in Tatarstan, who received 88.25 percent. That was just shy of Putin’s own (official) tally in the republic during the presidential election: 88.74 percent.
How the Kremlin’s ‘systemic opposition’ fared
The Kremlin’s domestic policy bloc has been trying to elevate the right-wing, misleadingly named Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) to the position of the country’s second-most popular party. In the latest elections, LDPR candidates edged out the Communist Party (KPRF). The party’s nominees placed second in the legislatures of the Belgorod, Kostroma, Kurgan, Magadan, and Ryazan regions, as well as in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. In the Kaluga region, the KPRF and LDPR essentially tied, each taking about 9.5 percent.
Even so, in 13 of the 20 regions that held gubernatorial elections, the KPRF finished in second place. They also won the mayoral race in Chernogorsk, the second-largest city in the Republic of Khakassia.
Despite these results, pro-Kremlin commentators have been quick to brand the KPRF a “stagnant” party and to declare that LDPR has “firmly secured its place as the country’s second party,” gradually replacing the KPRF.
Story by Andrey Pertsev