INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
control in over 4,000 races nationwide, including in occupied Ukrainian territories.With the invasion of Ukraine in its third year, the
Kremlin effectively banned any independent opposition candidates and thinned out the list of Kremlin-approved candidates allowed onto the
ballot at all levels, from State Duma elections to local municipalities.Here is a roundup of some of the most noteworthy outcomes from the
elections:Unpopular governors win by record marginsAll incumbent governors and regional heads won re-election with an average of about 80%
governor received a higher percentage of the vote than Putin, The Moscow Times understands, as this is considered mauvais ton and could even
Khabirov, the head of the Urals republic of Bashkortostan whose quest for reelection was marred by corruption scandals and echoes of some of
exaggerated by approximately two times
Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov won re-election with 59.34% of the vote, the lowest margin of victory for an incumbent governor in the
nonetheless ran virtually unopposed thanks to mechanisms designed to keep real competitors off the ballot.Bratsk mayorIn the Siberian city
elected as an independent candidate, he reinstated his membership in United Russia as soon as the election was over.The only real opposition
candidate, Communist Party-backed blogger Elena Kutergina, was barred from the ballot.The Bratsk mayoral election was a unique case for the
Kremlin, which almost never runs two candidates representing United Russia in a single race
won in races at the local and regional levels
Overall, 380 war veterans ran for office.With hundreds of thousands of Russian men on the front lines and over 64,000 confirmed dead or
wounded (according to an independent tally by the BBC and Mediazona), it is crucial for the Kremlin to show the public that these men are
starting to play a role in Russian politics and state management.Putin has repeatedly emphasized this, referring to the military involved in
A lack of sufficient military personnel on candidate lists for various elections may have contributed to the sudden resignation of Andrei
Turchak, former head of the ruling United Russia party and son of a longtime Putin ally, a move that was seen as a punishment.However, none
of the regular participants in the invasion were given meaningful roles, and the inclusion of 308 war veterans in political lists is not
