Election update XIV
REM summarizes the outcomes of September elections and examines how opposition is seeking to consolidate its efforts ahead of 2026 State Duma vote.
At the same time, the party landscape continues to shrink, while state pressure on Yabloko intensifies.
Read more in this digest of key electoral developments from September – October 2025.
Operation “Legitimacy”: Inside Russia’s Governor Elections
Leaked documents reveal that this year’s governor re-election campaign in Irkutsk relied on systematic violations of electoral rules.
The scale and structure of the operation suggest that it is not an isolated case, but part of a coordinated model used across Russia’s gubernatorial elections.
Read more … Operation “Legitimacy”: Inside Russia’s Governor Elections
Russian authorities shelve plans for mass rollout of electronic voting
E-voting was expected to be the Kremlin’s key tool for securing favorable outcomes in the 2026 State Duma elections.
Now, sources close to election officials have revealed plans to scale back its use.
What are the reasons behind this possible shift in strategy?
Read more … Russian authorities shelve plans for mass rollout of electronic voting
Experts: High results in 2025 governor elections attributed to vote rigging
Electoral analyst Ivan Shukshin has examined the results from several Russian regions where gubernatorial ‘elections’ took place in September 2025.
His unambiguous conclusion: the results were falsified.
REM publishes some of Shukshin’s conclusions.
Read more … Experts: High results in 2025 governor elections attributed to vote rigging
Statement on Russian regional elections 2025
On 12–14 September 2025, Russia held regional elections.
Elections were held in 81 regions with more than 5,000 election campaigns at various levels.
REM monitored the voting process and summarized the main conclusions from the observation.
Election update XIII
On 12–14 September, Russia will hold regional elections. While these events can hardly be described as genuine elections, they remain one of the few available indicators of internal political dynamics.
In this digest, REM examines the changes to electoral legislation introduced ahead of the vote, as well as the results of candidate registration.