2026 Russian elections

The 2026 Russian elections will be held in Russia, in large part, on Sunday, 20 September 2026 (single election day), with several regions likely to allow voting on 18 and 19 September. There will be 10 gubernatorial elections (seven direct and three indirectly elected), 39 regional parliamentary elections, and many elections on the municipal level.^[1]

The single election day was moved to the third Sunday of September (20 September), instead of the usual second Sunday (13 September), to combine regional and municipal elections with the State Duma election.^[2] Remote electronic voting (REV) is expected to be used in several regions, however, its expansion was allegedly curbed by ongoing internet restrictions with Presidential Administration senior official Aleksandr Kharichev claiming REV would be used only in regions where it had previously been implemented.^[3]

All 450 members of the 9th State Duma will be elected on 18–20 September 2026. State Duma is elected using parallel voting: 225 members are elected in single-mandate constituencies by plurality and the rest 225 – by party-list proportional representation with a 5% threshold. Party lists should have a federal part (country-wide list) with up to 15 candidates as well as at least 35 regional groups, comprising all subjects of the Russian Federation.^[4] Following the 2025 elections, 12 political parties^[a] are exempt from signature collection, while other political parties and independent candidates need to collect voters' signatures in order to get registered.^[5] In practice no other political party and just a handful of independent candidates are able to collect enough signatures due to high requirements (200,000 signatures for party lists, 3% of registered voters for independent candidates).

In 2026 at least seven direct gubernatorial elections are scheduled to be held in Russia. This number is usually expected to increase due to early retirements and rotations, while Central Electoral Commission chairwoman Ella Pamfilova hinted at this exact scenario in late December 2025.^[6] Direct gubernatorial elections in Russia are held using two-round system with the second round necessary in case no candidate achieves outright majority of votes,^[7] the most recent time second rounds were held in Russian gubernatorial elections occurred in 2018. First rounds of gubernatorial elections are to be held only on single election day, 20 September 2026, with some regions expected to allow voting on 18 and 19 September. All seven regions, where direct gubernatorial elections are currently scheduled to be held, allow only registered political parties to nominate candidates with self-nomination being prohibited.

In 2026 at least three indirect gubernatorial elections are scheduled to be held in Russia. In the indirect gubernatorial election regional chief executive (Head or Governor) is elected in the regional legislature by a simple majority. In all three regions holding indirect gubernatorial elections in 2026 each political party with factions in the regional legislature or the State Duma submits up to three candidacies to the President of Russia who then selects three candidates and presents them to the regional legislature.^[7] Indirect gubernatorial elections in Karachay-Cherkessia and North Ossetia are to be held only on single election day, 20 September 2026, while Head of Dagestan will be elected during the first session of the 8th People's Assembly of Dagestan.

In 2026 regional legislative elections are scheduled to be held in 39 regions, the most for an electoral cycle in Russia.^[20] Currently 36 regional legislatures are expected to be elected by a parallel voting, while three (in Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia) are elected by a party-list proportional representation with a 5% threshold. United Russia will defend its majorities in every regional legislature it received following the 2021 elections, except for Altai Krai Legislative Assembly, where United Russian only won plurality of seats during the previous cycle.

Most regions would also see their constituencies maps, adopted during 2015–16, expire prior to the 2026 elections so new maps should be approved. This redistricting round already sparked conflicts in, for example, Saint Petersburg,^[21] Altai Krai^[22] and Kursk Oblast,^[23] where opposition parties (CPRF and Yabloko) accused United Russia of meddling into redistricting process and cracking competitive districts. Another conflict occurred in Lipetsk Oblast, where regional authorities and loyal deputies are attempting to decrease party-list representation from 14 to 9 members (and overall the composition of Lipetsk Oblast Council of Deputies from 42 to 36 members), which limits the ability of opposition parties to gain a decent representation.^[24]

Numerous local elections are scheduled to be held in Russia throughout 2026, both to the municipal councils and executive authorities. The adoption of the new federal law on local self-government also abolished all direct mayoral elections in administrative centres of Russian regions which affected Yakutsk, initially scheduled to hold its election in 2026.^[75] Several regions made changes to their structure of local self-government (municipal reform) discontinuing direct mayoral and district elections, most notably in Yakutia.^[76][77]