President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party secured more than 58% of the vote in Russia’s parliamentary elections, putting it on course to control more than three-quarters of the State Duma. The three-day vote, which ended on Sunday with turnout approaching 60%, was the first parliamentary election since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022 and the first to include residents of four Ukrainian regions seized and illegally annexed by Moscow later that year. Ella Pamfilova, chair of the Central Electoral Commission, said Yabloko, Russia’s only registered anti-war party, won no national seats after being removed from the ballot by the Supreme Court last month. Yabloko nevertheless entered the regional parliament in Novgorod with about 12,000 votes, or just over 6%. The Communist Party won 13.8% and 40 Duma seats, while LDPR won 25 seats and New People won 20. Yabloko and the Communists said many of their observers were denied access to polling stations. Russia did not invite OSCE (European security and election-monitoring body) observers, a decision OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pere Joan Pons said breached Russia’s commitments. Analysts and critics said the result could be interpreted by Moscow as support for continuing the war, while warning that growing public demand to end the conflict could be followed by mobilization, repression or escalation. The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas rejected the election as a sham, and Australia, Britain, Canada and two other countries condemned voting in occupied Ukrainian areas as part of a wider system of occupation.