Russia Opens Early Voting in Occupied Ukrainian Territory Ahead of Duma Elections

Russia opened early voting this week in the Ukrainian territory it occupies, days ahead of the nationwide State Duma elections set for September 18-20 — a vote the Kremlin is framing as a measure of public support for the war now in its fifth year.

Early balloting began September 14 in the occupied Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics," and Crimea. Russian authorities sent mobile polling teams — carrying ballot boxes and portable voting booths — to rural homes across the territories, with armed servicemen and police accompanying election officials as they went door to door.

Russian officials say the mobile, early-voting setup is necessary to comply with martial law rules in the occupied territories and to protect both voters and election workers. Ukraine and Western governments have long rejected elections held in occupied Ukrainian territory as illegitimate under international law, arguing they can't reflect a free vote under military occupation.

The Duma vote is Russia's main nationwide parliamentary election, running through September 20 across the country. The Kremlin has increasingly used the inclusion of occupied Ukrainian territory in its domestic elections as a way to assert the annexations are settled fact, even as the war continues.