Anomalous turnout for verified collaborators: how people in the occupied Ukrainian territories were involved in Russia’s “elections”

The Russian authorities illegally used the occupied Ukrainian territories as an electoral reserve to simulate the results of their “elections” to the State Duma.

From September 18 to 20, Russia held the so-called “single voting day,” during which central and local authorities simulated the expression of the people’s will to “elect” predetermined individuals as deputies of the State Duma, the Russian parliament.

The only party that declared an anti-war position, Yabloko, was barred from participating in the elections, while members of the party were subjected to repression. Russian voters could see only government-approved candidates on the ballot, yet even under such conditions, the election results, according to Russia’s opposition media, for example Novaya Gazeta Europe, had to be massively falsified. Through such falsifications, the ruling United Russia party obtained a result of nearly 58