An Analysis on the Recent Elections in Russia
We hereby share an article that we have received per email from readers of the Russian Federation.
Electoral cretinism without electoral procedures: the 2026 ‘parliamentary elections’ in Russia and the opportunism of the Russian ‘opposition’
From 18 to 20 September, Russia held its ‘single voting day’. [1] During this three-day ‘day’, an event took place in Russia which is officially referred to in our country as the ‘Elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the 9th Convocation’. Notwithstanding the issues with this term, which we shall highlight below, for the sake of convenience and unambiguous clarity we shall also refer to these as the 2026 parliamentary elections and the elections to the State Duma. The final results of these elections were officially announced on 25 September. The ruling party, ‘United Russia’, secured an absolute majority of seats in the new parliament (349 out of 450 seats). It will be joined in this legislative body by the following parties: the CPRF (37 deputies), the LDPR (23 deputies), New People (19 deputies) and Just Russia (17 deputies), Rodina (1 deputy). [2]
There is no point in discussing the legitimacy of this body on the basis of the turnout, which officially stood at 59.8% or 67.4 million voters. There is no point in discussing the legitimacy or ‘strength’ of any of the parties that have entered parliament. Nor is there any point in discussing the support—or lack thereof—for those who did not make it into this parliament. All of this is meaningless for the reasons set out below.
In this context, it makes sense to discuss something else. Firstly, the structure of the Russian regime: how it functions, why parties and elections exist within it, and where it actually derives its legitimacy from. Secondly, we have witnessed a great deal of discussion about the correct course of action during the elections, listened to many ‘opposition’ speeches, and examined the strategies proposed by those forces that presented themselves as the opposition – forces which claimed they would overthrow the fascist regime or proclaimed some sort of legal means of expressing ‘their own position’. We shall discuss these opposition strategies later. All of this can be assessed objectively. By the end of October, enough time had passed not only to see what had been proposed before the elections, but also to assess the actions and rhetoric following the elections.
We shall begin with the structure of the Russian regime.
The structure of the Russian regime
As the great leader and Marxist classic, Chairman Gonzalo, pointed out to us, fascism is not characterised by the scale of its repression. Fascism is characterised by its anti-democratic and eclectic state ideology and by the corporatist structure it imposes on society. [3]
The old Russian state is exceptionally bloody and repressive. It has killed millions of people and maimed millions more. [4], [5], [6] It has blanketed the occupied territories of Ukraine with concentration camps. [7] It has imprisoned countless Russians. [8], [9] It tortures and kills people for their political beliefs. [10] The Russian Federation is a terrorist organisation which, unlike many other bourgeois states—which are also terrorist organisations in the hands of the bourgeoisie—has long since ceased to try to conceal this fact from either external or internal observers. All these facts are common knowledge. However, it would be incorrect to suggest that the Russian Federation differs from the imperialist states of Western Europe in this respect – that is, in the degree of repression, the level of bloodshed and the scale of state terrorism. This would be incorrect from the point of view of defining fascism. The key factor is not these external signs, which are clearly visible, but the reason why these external signs have become so widespread.
In Russia, the highest real authority is the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation. It is led by people such as Vaino, Kirienko and Gromov. [11] The best known of them in Russia is, of course, Kirienko. It is highly likely that he is the de facto ruler of the old Russian state. The Presidential Administration formalises its decisions with Putin’s assistance and drafts his speeches. Putin and Peskov (Putin’s press secretary) are the public representatives, the ‘spokespeople’ of the Presidential Administration, articulating its line most of the time. Other bodies under the control of the Presidential Administration are the State Council of the Russian Federation and the Security Council of the Russian Federation, both of which were established by the Presidential Administration. Both directly and through these bodies, Russia’s military and law enforcement agencies are subordinate to the Presidential Administration.
The Presidential Administration controls all parliamentary parties in Russia. It either established these parties directly in the past (United Russia, Just Russia, New People, CPRF), or these parties were established by the Russian security services and subsequently brought under the control of the Presidential Administration (LDPR, and to some extent the CPRF). [12] The leadership of all parliamentary parties includes specific officials tasked with coordinating their actions with Kirienko, Yarin and the Presidential Administration as a whole. In addition, a number of parties (United Russia, Rodina, Just Russia), together with the largest trade unions, such as the ‘Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia’, the state women’s organisation ‘Union of Women of Russia’ and the association of the big bourgeoisie ‘Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs’, form part of a corporatist structure established by the Presidential Administration known as the ‘All-Russian People’s Front’. Thus, the entire official political system of the Russian Federation is wholly controlled by the organs of the old state. Previously, during Surkov’s tenure as head of the Presidential Administration—when the need for fascism was less acute and a bourgeois opposition existed—these bodies engaged in political manoeuvring and sought to implement their policies within the framework of bourgeois democracy. [13] Nowadays, having established a fascist dictatorship, the Presidential Administration rules through direct violence. Of course, there is still considerable scope today for the Presidential Administration to manipulate society, and they are masters of deception; yet the old state will no longer tolerate setbacks in its manipulations and will immediately rectify such failures through terror.
The Structure of Russian Elections
A key feature of the 2026 elections in Russia was that the list of participants was approved by the Presidential Administration through the Central and regional electoral commissions, courts at all levels, and the police. Thus, the social-democratic and social-pacifist party Yabloko was initially registered. [14] The plan was that, during the rigged vote, it would be allocated around 0 votes, thereby allowing its presence on the ballot paper to be used to promote the unity of the masses around the imperialist state. However, analysts from the old state miscalculated, and the masses, dissatisfied with fascist policies, began to rally around the Yabloko party. To put a stop to such unplanned events, Yabloko’s main list of candidates was scandalously withdrawn from the election [15], after which a crackdown was carried out against many of Yabloko’s regional leaders and activists. Through these repressive measures, Yabloko was neutralised as a political force.
Apart from the Presidential Administration controlling the composition of the ballot paper, the old state also influences the results through other means. This typically involves transporting voters to cast their ballots in a specific way that suits the state. Millions of prisoners and military personnel are used for this purpose, but such actions are not limited to them. Another method of influencing election results involves the direct falsification of voting results at polling stations, where regional electoral commissions enter the results they are instructed to record in the official minutes, after which these falsified results are sent upwards for the final tally. Such fraud is facilitated by the fact that, following the coronavirus pandemic, voting in Russia has been extended from one day to three days. These actions are also facilitated by the fact that anyone opposed to such practices can either be screened out in advance, forcibly removed by the commission members themselves, or the police can always assist them in doing so. [16] The most compliant parties, Just Russia and New People, deliberately withdraw their representatives from polling stations before the counting of votes begins, so that they do not interfere with anyone entering the figures as required. Another way of influencing the results is through electronic voting, where it is possible to vote online, and the system – the precise workings of which are not disclosed to the public – subsequently adds percentages to the parties’ totals, supposedly corresponding to the results of the online vote. Finally, the electoral landscape of the occupied territories is boundless and endless. According to various sources, the population there varies, and the formal legal boundaries differ from those actually held by Russian imperialism. In fact, even people without Russian citizenship are forced to vote there, which has been a documented practice. [17]
Another highly effective method within the context of the corporatism inherent in fascism is the coercion of people to vote – and to vote in a particular way – at their places of work and study. Students are coerced by their lecturers, who in turn are coerced by the management of their educational institutions. Employees in state bodies and enterprises are instructed by their superiors to go to the polls. Employees of private enterprises are coerced by managers, who in turn are coerced by directors and business owners; these, in turn, are coerced by local authorities and senior officials in the police and other state services, without whose cooperation private enterprises would be shut down due to arrests, inspections or fabricated breaches of fire safety and health and hygiene regulations. This is not limited to a one-off reminder. Workers and students are registered for online voting or sent to polling stations. They either vote under the direct supervision of their superiors, or are phoned on polling day and required to confirm whether they have voted, or are sent to vote on a Friday, which is specifically designated as a day off at the workplace for this purpose. Students are pressured with the threat that if they do not vote, they will not be allowed to sit their exams. Workers are threatened with the loss of their bonuses and wages. Local authorities, right up to the governors of regions and national republics, are allocated funding based on how well they have carried out this task. This all-pervasive system, which binds people together and is controlled by the state of imperialist capital, exerts pressure on the whole of society and compels tens of millions of people to submit and take part in the voting process.
All these methods of manipulating election results are not used in isolation, but exist simultaneously. They create not only artificial voting results, but also an artificial turnout (this turnout is used in fraud at polling stations and in online voting). The notion that this manipulation of results is necessary to maintain United Russia’s lead is false. In reality, the results of absolutely all parties are manipulated in this way, depending on what the state specifically wishes to see from a particular polling station. Polling stations where the result is anomalous compared to another station in the same building – where the absolute majority is not held by United Russia but by the CPRF, the LDPR or Just Russia – are an entirely normal and widespread practice. [18], [19]
The fact that, for example, Just Russia’s result was adjusted at the last minute to ensure it remained in parliament has become widely known. This has publicly discredited the process. But why, then, does the old Russian state need such elections if they cause it to suffer reputational damage?
Why do they need elections?
The Presidential Administration speaks quite openly about the election results it wants. Information on this, and on how its objectives change over time due to various political events in the country, is regularly published in both the state-controlled and opposition press. [20], [21] The state achieves these results through actions that appear to be public scandals. Millions of people, who themselves vote under pressure, bear witness to these events. Preliminary results and high-profile stories of arrests feature in both legitimate and illegitimate news outlets, which are read by millions. Why do they bring such shame upon themselves?
The old Russian state derives its legitimacy not from public opinion about itself, but from its ability to compel the masses to comply with its demands through a wide range of coercive methods and public deception. The Presidential Administration issues the directive. Civil servants, police officers, the petty and middle bourgeoisie, comprador capital and semi-feudal elements of the national republics, workers and other strata of the working people – all carry out the tasks assigned to them by the state. If a task is actually carried out, this reinforces the legitimacy of the system of power built by Russian imperialism. This is because this system works and is capable of governing society.
Every election – presidential, parliamentary, gubernatorial, regional – serves to demonstrate to the Presidential Administration and to society as a whole that the directive issued by the state will be passed down the chain of command and translated into results corresponding to that directive.
Such is the structure and purpose of elections in Russia. Such is the structure of a political regime that functions as a fascist dictatorship. How did the representatives of the opportunist ‘opposition’ propose to combat all this, and how did they actually fight it?
The actions of the Russian opportunist ‘opposition’
Let us begin by noting that the facts about Russia listed above are no secret and are common knowledge. It is obvious that, since they are common knowledge, the political forces which, it is claimed, wish to liberate our country from a fascist dictatorship (whilst not always using this term themselves, which is beside the point) must formulate their strategy on the basis of the actual conditions that exist. Based on this reality-grounded strategy, these forces should already be shaping their propaganda and work with the masses, organising their struggle not according to illusions, but according to the real political conditions in our country. It would be entirely reasonable to expect this. Especially given that a genocidal colonial war has been raging in Ukraine for almost five full years and that repression is rampant in the country, the harm of which to the peoples of our country and to the whole world is obvious.
The leading Russian liberal opposition figure is Maxim Katz. [22] He prepared thoroughly for these elections. He set up the website ‘Go to’ [23], which provided information about the candidates standing for election. On this website, candidates officially registered by the old Russian state were ranked according to the extent of their support for the war and their desire to introduce a second wave of mobilisation in Russia. The ranking was entirely fabricated. Katz created the illusion amongst his supporters that there were good candidates for whom it was right to turn out and vote. In doing so, Katz simply ignored the actual views and actions of some candidates whilst emphasising the views and actions of others in order to create this false illusion. Katz lied to Russians in dozens of videos, claiming that the authorities feared the real electorate, that a boycott would benefit the authorities, and that the authorities would be unable to rig the turnout. For many months, Katz lied to his supporters, telling them that only if the maximum number of voters turned out at the polls would they feel that the electorate was opposed to the authorities and that they had been deceived. Katz tried to present the situation as though, following an election attended by as many people as possible, the people would see the reality of Russia’s political system and rise up in protest. In doing so, Katz deceitfully ignored the fact that Russians already see the reality of the political system in Russia, since all electoral mechanisms involve tens of millions of people.
Katz was not alone. He was backed by other liberals, whose influence is considerably less than his own. He was supported by Alexander Shtefanov [24] and other liberal bloggers, who promoted his website and spread false hopes that fascism was on the verge of collapse simply because people would take part in a process that fascism itself had devised for them. Katz’s website was backed by political has-beens from the ‘Anti-Corruption Foundation’ [25], who included his site in their ‘Smart Voting’ project, which similarly attempts to ignore the true nature of elections in Russia and selects ‘better’ candidates. [26]
The Katz-Navalny strategy was built on a big lie. As well as ignoring the true nature of the elections, liberals abroad portrayed the situation as though 1) weakening United Russia and strengthening other imperialist parties would turn the latter against the regime; 2) that United Russia could be weakened through voting in the elections.
When the authorities of the old state announced the predictable result in advance, all the parties created by the Presidential Administration recognised this result and there were almost no protests; yet the liberals abroad publicly pretended that they had made no such call. They ignored the few minor street protests that did take place. They provided them with no support or publicity. They themselves did not call for any protests.
In fact, the entire strategy of these most vicious enemies and traitors of our country’s peoples—whose crimes are scarcely any less monstrous than those of imperialism—boiled down to their oft-repeated phrase: ‘You must vote in any election. Even if it is a bad election. Even if it is not an election at all.’
Another bloc of the fake ‘opposition’ in these elections was made up of the Yabloko party and a party called the ‘Russian Communist Party (Internationalists)’ [27] and the small groups aligned with them. Whilst overseas liberals have betrayed Russia to a fascist dictatorship through their legalistic and non-violent policies and continue to play into the hands of the Presidential Administration, Yabloko and the RCP(i) are spreading a different, yet similar, lie. Allegedly, it is possible to make a statement, to send a signal to the authorities, by voting in the elections—not by choosing any of the candidates, but by spoiling the ballot paper. Allegedly, this will be counted as a separate category when the results are tallied. Allegedly, this will demonstrate to the imperialists the Russians’ discontent. And supposedly this will stop the imperialists, preventing them from passing new repressive laws, introducing new extortionate taxes and carrying out a new wave of mobilisation. Alongside this deceitful and misguided strategy, another has been practised for many years – writing radical slogans on ballot papers to show one’s discontent. Supposedly, these radical slogans increase the impact of a spoiled ballot paper on the imperialists and make them more fearful. All this was proclaimed during the pre-election period as ‘the only legal way to express one’s dissatisfaction’, which every Russian is obliged to use.
The logic of Yabloko, the RCP(i), as well as Katz’s suggestions to vote for ‘New People’ as an ‘anti-war party’ – is a quasi-religious, fetishistic idea, a cargo cult, which replaces real struggle with symbolic actions for these opportunistic politicians. In the run-up to the vote, the opportunists declare these symbolic actions to be sufficient for success and a ‘duty’ of the citizen.
In reality, this merely creates a false picture of the world for the masses, in which defeating fascism is as simple as turning up at an event organised by fascists, secretly ‘scaring off’ the fascists, and going home. As a result, the masses, having believed the opportunists and pinned their hopes on change in such an absurd manner, wake up after the elections to find no change whatsoever; they become depoliticised and demobilised. Thus, the propaganda of the opportunist forces does not aid the anti-fascist struggle, but rather undermines it and plays into the hands of fascism.
In the RCP(i)’s final analysis, whilst acknowledging complete failure, the opportunists write that although nothing good came of it, their position was ‘fundamentally correct’. [28] ‘Fundamentally correct’ implies that the same strategy should be pursued in the future. Absurdly, this is justified by the fact that the RCP(i) also supported several ‘opposition’ bloggers and Yabloko, and so they will continue to engage in symbolic actions that play into the hands of Russian imperialism in the future. Life teaches the opportunists nothing. Unfortunately, the opportunists themselves not only deceive one another, but also cause enormous harm.
‘Peaceful accumulation of strength’ in Russia and its anti-popular nature under fascism
The essence of all the activities of the Russian pseudo-opposition is the theory of ‘peaceful accumulation of strength’, which has reached its most extreme form under fascist terror. Among all the movements and organisations listed above, there exists the illusory theory of the ‘window of opportunity’, which has replaced the theory of the ‘revolutionary situation’ that prevailed in previous years. The essence of the ‘window of opportunity’ is that one day the war will somehow end of its own accord, and Putin will die of old age. At that moment, the conditions will supposedly be created for all the ‘opposition’ forces described above to come to power. Moreover, they will come to power peacefully, as Russian officials themselves will hand over power to them. Believing in this theory, the ‘opposition’ are preparing their ranks for future electoral contests against the parties that exist today and the far-right militants on the streets.
In reality, this theory is utter nonsense, at odds with reality. It emerged against a backdrop of, and as an expression of, apathy. It disarms, demobilises and depoliticises the masses, and above all the Russian proletariat, which, of all the classes in metropolitan Russia, suffers most from Russian imperialism; which, more than any other, demands organised struggle; and which is being misled by opportunist demagogues.
Following the 2026 parliamentary elections, it must be emphasised with particular force that the opportunist ‘opposition’ in Russia is the enemy of the Russian proletariat, an enemy of the working classes and the masses of our country; in fact, it is an enemy of the international proletariat and of the struggling peoples and nations throughout the world (all the more so because this ‘opposition’ sincerely hates this entire struggle). These are our enemies, and enemies no less significant than Russian imperialism, for they are accomplices in its crimes and aid in prolonging its existence.
Just like the working class throughout the world, the Russian working class must rebuild its Communist Party as a militarised party based on Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, particularly Maoism. There is no other way for those living in our country to even slightly improve their situation – this is precisely what the recent elections have clearly demonstrated.
Notes
1 – https://www.vedomosti.ru/spravka/edg-2026
2 – https://www.forbes.ru/society/569199-cik-oglasil-okoncatel-nye-rezul-taty-vyborov-v-gosdumu
3 – Interview with Chairman Gonzalo in the newspaper ‘El Diario’, 1988.
4 – https://mskvremya.ru/article/2023/1520-poteri-ukrainy-za-vremya-spetsoperatsii
5 – https://zona.media/casualties
6 – https://index.minfin.com.ua/russian-invading/casualties/
7 – https://www.dw.com/ru/jelskij-universitet-rf-sozdala-21-filtracionnyj-lager-dla-ukraincev/a-62934742
8 – https://memopzk.org/spiski-presleduemyh-politzaklyuchennyh/
10 – https://www.dw.com/ru/v-rossii-rastet-cislo-pogibsih-politzaklucennyh-cto-o-nih-izvestno/a-76957252
11 – http://www.kremlin.ru/structure/administration/members
12 – https://redherald.org/2026/06/22/a-report-from-the-russian-maoists/
13 – https://philos.msu.ru/node/1859
14 – Yabloko is a social-democratic/social-liberal party, founded in the early 1990s as an electoral bloc that criticised Yeltsin from a moderate-liberal standpoint. It is currently the only genuine opposition party registered with the state authorities of the Russian Federation. The party’s leadership and its rank-and-file activists are regularly subjected to repression, arrests, being labelled as ‘foreign agents’, torture and other forms of pressure; many of its rank-and-file activists and leaders are in prison, whilst many members of Yabloko have gone into political exile. https://www.yabloko.ru/war-against-yabloko These facts garner support for ‘Yabloko’ within Russian society. At the same time, there is evidence that the party’s long-standing leader, Yavlinsky, has links to the Presidential Administration. Another fact is that, following the loss of state funding in 2016 due to the party losing its parliamentary representation – on which it had entirely relied – 15 unknown NGOs began funding the party to the same extent as it had previously received from the state. These NGOs transfer between 12 and 14 million to Yabloko. https://youtu.be/gpr8qQi_hcA?si=haDaJSoWAmZBzWOS The nature of this money and its source are a secret known only to Yabloko and the Russian state, which is fully aware of all the details of this scheme. All the facts suggest that, in effect, Yabloko is also funding Russian imperialism. The party itself advocates ending the Russian-Ukrainian war through a ceasefire along the current front line, whilst masking its defence of Russian imperialism’s military conquests with pacifist slogans and pseudo-humanitarianism.
15 – https://meduza.io/feature/2026/08/11/chimi-rukami-yabloko-snyali-s-vyborov-maksimalno-korotko
16 – https://www.currenttime.tv/a/nablyudateley-yabloka-kprf-ne-dopustili-na-uchastki/33859059.html
17 – https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/vibori-okupatsiyi-rosiyani-dozvolyayut-ukrayintsyam-1692899771.html
19 – https://meduza.io/feature/2026/09/23/realistichnye-itogi-vyborov-v-gosdumu
20 – https://www.rbc.ru/politics/25/02/2026/699f09989a794738e816bb5b
22 – https://www.youtube.com/@Max_Katz Maxim Katz is a prominent blogger who has been designated a foreign agent in Russia and sentenced in absentia to nine years’ imprisonment for discrediting the army. He was formerly a member of Yabloko and a rival of Alexei Navalny. His political views are liberal. After the war began, he left Russia and has been living in exile, releasing daily videos criticising Russian politics and the economy, as well as covering various historical topics. As he is Jewish and holds Israeli citizenship, he lives in Israel. Because of this, he often echoes Israeli state propaganda on foreign policy issues. Among other things, he supported an Israeli attack on Iran, spending several weeks convincing Russian viewers that the Iranian regime was on the verge of collapse. He frequently disregards his previous statements when the political situation changes, which is also due to the fact that the scripts for his videos are written with the help of people he has hired.
23 – https://iditena.org/party-list-matrix/
24 – Alexander Shtefanov, a liberal blogger who advocates pacifist views. www.youtube.com/@alexandrshtefanov In Russia, Shtefanov is designated as a foreign agent.
25 – The ‘Anti-Corruption Foundation’, the Navalny movement – an opposition organisation in Russia during the 2010s, which espoused liberal and, towards the end, social-liberal views. Its main activities consisted of various legal measures through which it attempted, or pretended to attempt, to halt the rise of fascism in Russia. Its leader, Alexei Navalny, was killed in a Russian prison following his arrest upon returning to the country after surviving an assassination attempt. The organisation itself was designated a ‘foreign agent’ in 2019, recognised as extremist in 2021, and designated a terrorist organisation in 2024. Following Navalny’s murder, the organisation is now led by his wife, who carries no political clout in Russia. In recent years, Navalny’s supporters have completely lost any influence in the country, and what remains of their audience – accustomed to lawful activities – is being sent to prison for lengthy sentences, as support for them is now deemed to be support for terrorism.
27 – The RCP(i) consists of former members of the social-chauvinist revisionist parties, the RCWP and the UCP, who offer mild criticism of the Russian-Ukrainian war. https://rkpi.info/ They fully adhere to the legalist line of their predecessors. The RCP(i) looks primarily to the Greek opportunists of the KKE, and to a lesser extent to the German opportunists of the MLPD, as its external models. It is assumed that there is a tacit agreement between the RCP(i) and the Russian authorities, which allows this organisation to exist relatively comfortably in modern Russia.
