The 2020 Russian regional elections took place across three days from 11 to 13 September 2020 in 28 out of the 85 federal subjects of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. Elected were 18 directly-elected

governors A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, 2 indirectly-elected governors and 11 regional parliaments. The elections also coincided with local elections in many cities. A total of 156,000 candidates stood for 78,000 positions at regional, local and municipal levels. The vote was extended over three days in a move the government said was to avoid over-crowding and reduce the risk from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. Candidates for the ruling

United Russia United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya, (j)ɪˈdʲinəjə rɐˈsʲijə) is a Russian conservative political party. As the largest party in Russia, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the State Duma , havin ...

party and their allies won all 20 governorships with more than 50% of the vote, meaning they would not need to hold a second round run-off. However, the party lost their majority in the regional parliaments of Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Tambov. The elections were seen as a dress rehearsal for the 2021 State Duma elections.

Campaign

The election was led by incumbent candidates from the governing United Russia party competing against the "systemic opposition" parties including the Liberal Democratic Party,

A Just Russia A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

and the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

. Opposition leader

Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolievich Navalny ( rus, links=no, Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, , ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈvalʲnɨj; born 4 June 1976) is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption act ...

called on opposition voters to use "

Smart Voting Smart Voting ( rus, Умное голосование, Umnoye golosovaniye) is a tactical voting strategy put forward by the team of Alexei Navalny with the aim of depriving the ruling United Russia party of votes in regional and federal electi ...

" by voting for candidates most likely to win against United Russia. Navalny fell ill three weeks before the election with Novichok poisoning while campaigning in Tomsk. The campaign in Archangelsk Oblast came after the governor had proposed fully integrating the

Nenets Autonomous Okrug The Nenets Autonomous Okrug (russian: Не́нецкий автоно́мный о́круг; Nenets: Ненёцие автономной ӈокрук, ''Nenjocije awtonomnoj ŋokruk'') is a federal subject of Russia and an autonomous okrug of ...

into the Oblast. This had provoked demonstrations until the proposals were withdrawn.

Campaign

Results

Gubernatorial elections

References