18/09/2026 President | Election observation | Political Affairs and Democracy
The following statement was issued today by the Platform for Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE):
“It is already clear: the so-called ‘elections’ to the State Duma beginning today will not meet international democratic standards, and their outcome cannot be regarded as a genuine expression of the will of the Russian people.
In short, they are fake ‘elections’ that will produce a fake parliament. The incoming State Duma must not be recognised as democratically elected or as the legitimate representative of the Russian people.
No legal effect in Ukraine
To begin with, any vote organised in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine is a flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as of international law. Such voting can have no legitimacy or legal effect.
We call on the international community never to recognise the State Duma as a legitimate body, since so-called 'elections' were held in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
A climate of fear
There are many reasons why these elections are in effect meaningless. Opposition politicians, civil society representatives and journalists have been imprisoned, persecuted or forced into exile. Independent media have been closed or blocked. Even mild and peaceful criticism of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been criminalised.
The labels “foreign agent”, “extremist”, “terrorist” and “undesirable organisation” are misused as legal tools to silence individuals and organisations whose activities expose the gap between official claims and reality. Combined with politically motivated prosecutions, these measures have eliminated open political debate and genuine competition.
The exclusion of the Yabloko party has also deprived Russian voters of even a limited possibility of voicing their discontent with the ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.
In fact, in recent years, Russia has moved from authoritarian repression to a state where totalitarian control has been solidified.
Flouting international commitments
Elections held in these circumstances are incompatible with the international commitments undertaken by Russia. Elections must offer genuine political competition, allow candidates to campaign freely, give voters access to different political views and enable them to cast their ballots without fear of reprisal.
No independent assessment
Russia’s decision not to invite OSCE and representatives of independent civil society to observe elections means that there will be no independent and impartial international assessment of the electoral process. Serious concerns also remain about the transparency of electronic voting conducted through technological infrastructure controlled by the State.”
The Platform is organising a parliamentary round table on the topic Fake ‘elections’ in Russia: what next? on Monday 28 September, on the first day of the Assembly’s Autumn plenary session in Strasbourg, livestreamed via the Assembly’s YouTube channel.