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How voting works

✶ Calendar · Federal Laws 67-FZ, 19-FZ and 20-FZ

How a Russian
election runs.

A presidential decree opens the campaign three to four months before polling day. Parties nominate, collect signatures if they must, and are registered by the Central Election Commission. The last two Duma elections, in 2021 and 2026, were held over three days.

State Duma 2026 · 106 days from decree to first sitting

From the decree
to the first sitting.

Nominations & signatures Registration Early voting Voting Count Decree · Yabloko struck off · polls open · first sitting Phase bars are approximate: the reported calendar gives months, not days
  1. 01 16 Jun 2026 Election called Presidential decree, 90–110 days before polling day.
  2. 02 Jun–Jul Nominations Party congresses nominate federal lists (200–400 names, at least 35 regional groups) and district candidates; others self-nominate.
  3. 03 Jul Signatures Parties without a Duma or regional seat need 200,000 signatures (≤7,000 per region); district self-nominees need 3% of the district's voters.
  4. 04 Jul–Aug Registration The CEC checks documents and signatures. Yabloko's list was struck off by the Supreme Court on 10 Aug 2026.
  5. 05 From registration Campaign Free airtime and print space are allotted by lot; the campaign fund caps are 700 million roubles per party and 40 million per district candidate.
  6. 06 From 28 Aug Early voting In the occupied Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts early voting began three weeks before polling day; abroad from 4 Sep.
  7. 07 17 Sep Day of silence No campaigning on the day before voting.
  8. 08 18–20 Sep Three days of voting Polling stations open Friday to Sunday. Remote e-voting (DEG) was open in about 32 regions plus Moscow's own system.
  9. 09 20–25 Sep Count and results Precinct commissions count on Sunday night and key protocols into GAS «Vybory». The CEC declared the result on 25 Sep.
  10. 10 30 Sep First sitting The 9th Duma convened and re-elected Vyacheslav Volodin as chairman.

Единый день голосования

One day
for everything.

Regional and local elections are bundled onto a single voting day: the second Sunday of September, or the third if the second falls next to a public holiday (67-FZ art. 10). In a year when the Duma is elected they move to the Duma's own voting day.

That is why 2026's regional contests (eight direct governor elections, three by legislatures and 39 regional parliaments) were held with the Duma vote on 18–20 September rather than on the second Sunday, 13 September.

2026 contests: 2026 Russian elections (Wikipedia) ↗. The decree calling a federal election must come 90–110 days before polling day; regional elections are called 90–100 days ahead (art. 10 §7).

Try it · Federal Law 67-FZ, art. 10

When is the single voting day?

2027

Sunday 12 September

The second Sunday of September (moved to the third if it touches a public holiday).

A dissolution, early elections or a holiday shift would change these dates. For the Duma the CEC may spread voting over up to three days (20-FZ art. 80.1), as in 2026.

Next

The road
to 2031.

  1. 12 Sep 2027 Single voting day Eleven direct gubernatorial elections, one by a legislature, and six regional parliaments. Source ↗
  2. Sep 2028 · expected Single voting day Regional and municipal elections; the list is not yet published. Source ↗
  3. Mar 2030 · expected Presidential election Six years after March 2024. By the rule in 19-FZ art. 5 we expect 17 March; the Federation Council fixes the date. Source ↗
  4. Sep 2031 · expected 10th State Duma Five years after 2026; the President sets the date by decree. Source ↗

Dates marked "expected" follow from the term lengths in law; they are fixed only when the election is called.

Two electoral systems

Lists and districts;
two rounds.

State Duma · parallel (mixed) system

225 + 225

Every voter gets two ballots. Half the seats are shared among party lists that win at least 5% of the voters who took part, by largest remainder. The other half go to whoever tops the poll in each single-member district, with no run-off. The two halves are counted separately.

Mixed system restored for the Duma (225 + 225, 5% threshold) from 2016; Federal Law 20-FZ. Crimea annexed; not recognised by UN General Assembly resolution 68/262.

Try the seat calculator →

President · two-round system

50% + 1

A candidate who wins an absolute majority of the votes cast is elected in the first round; otherwise the top two meet in a run-off. Of the 8 presidential elections since 1991, only 1996 went to a second round: Boris Yeltsin beat Gennady Zyuganov in the run-off, 53.8% to 40.3%.

The most recent, in 2024, was won by Vladimir Putin in the first round.

Every election since 1991 →

Who can run

Age, residence,
and no foreign ties.

State Duma deputy

21 and over.

A citizen aged at least 21 on polling day. Anyone holding foreign citizenship or a foreign residence permit is barred (20-FZ art. 4).

President

35, and 25 years at home.

At least 35 years old, permanently resident in Russia for at least 25 years, and never to have held foreign citizenship or a foreign residence permit (Constitution art. 81, as amended in 2020). A party without Duma seats must collect 100,000 signatures for its nominee (Wikipedia).

Since May 2024

No 'foreign agents'.

People designated 'foreign agents' barred from standing for any office (99-FZ of 15 May 2024). A designated person must shed the status before filing to register (20-FZ art. 4 §13.1).

Everyone

Not imprisoned.

Citizens declared incapable by a court, or held in prison under a court sentence, may neither vote nor stand (Constitution art. 32).

Try it · Federal Law 20-FZ, art. 44

Can this party get on the ballot?

Parties that did well last time are exempt. Everyone else collects signatures, which the CEC checks before it registers the list.

Is any of these true?

210,000 collected · 200,000 needed · at least 29 regions at 7,000 each

20-FZ art. 44, current text (consultant.ru) ↗

In 2026 10 party lists made the ballot. The Supreme Court cancelled Yabloko's list on 10 August on a suit brought by another party, Rodina, so it is not among them; its district candidates stayed on.

After the polls close

Counted at the precinct,
declared by the CEC.

112,789,817 Registered voters, 2026
59.80% Official turnout (ballots issued)
25 Sep Result declared, five days after polls closed

Counting starts at each precinct as soon as voting ends on the last day (20-FZ art. 80.1). Precinct protocols are keyed into the state system GAS «Vybory» and summed upward through territorial and district commissions to the CEC. Reading the numbers →