Russians go to polls against backdrop of Ukraine war

Russians on Friday began three days of voting in the country's first wartime parliamentary election, which features virtually no opposition and is all but certain to secure the Kremlin's political dominance.

Authorities spread the election over the weekend in a bid to boost turnout among the 111 million eligible voters and even allowed electronic balloting.

Polls opened Friday and will close Sunday.

The Kremlin wants the parliamentary election, the first since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, to underline public support for the war and give a more legitimacy to its action. The main Kremlin party, United Russia, is all control of the lower house, the State Duma.

Several smaller parties of the "systemic opposition" that vote in sync with the government on all key issues also are expected to retain their presence.

Voters cast two separate ballots, filling half of the Duma's 450 seats by selecting political parties listed on the ballot.

The rest are contested in single-seat constituencies, with voters choosing individual candidates.

For the first time, the parliamentary election includes residents of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow annexed after the war began.

Voting also is taking place in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was taken over by Russia in 2014.

The liberal Yabloko party, the only registered political entity that dared to criticise the war in Ukraine was removed from the ballot last month by Russia's Supreme Court, and only has a few dozen candidates in the single-constituency races.

Additionally, some anti-war politicians have been imprisoned or forced to flee abroad ahead of the campaign.

The election follows a summer of Ukraine's long-range drone strikes on oil refineries that triggered a widespread fuel crisis.

The damage has exacerbated problems for the Russian economy and brought the war home for millions.