Russia held three days of voting from September 12 to 14, 2025, with citizens electing 21 governors, 11 regional legislatures and dozens of city councils. According to preliminary results, incumbent regional leaders and candidates backed by the authorities, mostly from United Russia, led in nearly all contests.
Election commissions and the Central Election Commission listed Alexander Drozdenko in the Leningrad region, Rustam Minnikhanov in Tatarstan, Yury Slyusar in the Rostov region, Veniamin Kondratyev in Krasnodar Krai, Alexander Khinshtein in the Kursk region, Igor Kobzev in the Irkutsk region and other incumbent or acting heads among the leaders. In Chuvashia, self-nominated incumbent Oleg Nikolayev was ahead. In annexed Sevastopol, the CEC said Mikhail Razvozhayev was leading.
Experts interviewed by Novaya-Europe said the elections were marked by restricted competition, voter coercion, questionable at-home voting practices and pressure on those trying to monitor the process. An anonymous electoral expert said many potential candidates avoid running because of the risk of criminal prosecution, being labeled a “foreign agent,” or losing a mandate at will.
“On the one hand, people are being silenced; on the other, the internet is being shut down; and at the same time an information backdrop is being created that does not match reality,” the source said, adding that the elections were turning into a “clown show and an endless celebration.”
He described communications blackouts as a new problem this year: because mobile internet was disrupted, observers could not promptly report complaints. These were the first elections since the liquidation of the Golos election-monitoring movement in July 2025, after its co-chair Grigory Melkonyants was sentenced to five years in prison.
Observers reported violations in several regions. In Fryazino, analysts said they found organized sites for mass online voting through remote electronic voting. In the same town, one observer said a ballot box had been moved overnight and the ballots appeared crumpled. In Perm Krai, students said they were told to register for online voting and send photos or screenshots as proof that they had voted.
Analyst Ivan Shukshin pointed to abnormal turnout in the Kursk region, where some precincts recorded participation far above the regional average. He also said there were signs of possible fraud in at least five regions: the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Leningrad, Rostov and Kursk regions, and Krasnodar Krai. In the Irkutsk region, the Vybory v Detalyakh project said voting also took place at closed polling station No. 3001 in the so-called DPR, where turnout reached 99.94%.
Reports also described pressure on observers. In Krasnodar, a CPRF observer was barred from accompanying mobile voting, while in the Voronezh region observer Vasily Potapov needed medical assistance after an attack. Election commissions in the Bryansk and Kursk regions banned filming at polling stations, citing security concerns, while experts called the measure a violation of observers’ rights.
Among the few exceptions where opponents of the authorities were ahead, the publication cites the mayoral race in Chernogorsk in Khakassia, where CPRF candidate Yelena Gopina was preliminarily leading, as well as races in Pokrovsk and several municipalities in Khabarovsk Krai.