Counting down to votes: parties announce goals for regional elections in September
United Russia expects to receive more than 75% of seats in all representative government bodies at the regional and municipal levels, Deputy Secretary of the General Council of the EP Sergey Perminov told Izvestia. The LDPR is preparing to consolidate its status as the second political force in the country. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation will focus on voting for the governor of the Irkutsk region, which does not negate the desire to compete for victory in all other elections. "Fair Russia – For Truth" has set the task to take the second place after the EP in terms of the number of mandates, and "New People" aims to maximize the number of regional deputies. In which regions a real struggle may unfold and which voting results political scientists predict, see the Izvestia article.
Party plans before the elections
The political parties of the Russian Federation announced their goals for the elections in September 2025. On June 16, the milestone passed, when exactly 90 days remained before the vote. By this date, according to the legislation, all regions had to determine the dates of the elections. Despite the fact that the Single Voting Day (EDT) will be September 14, most of the subjects decided to hold a multi-day vote from the 12th to the 14th.
United Russia expects to win more than three-quarters of the seats in all representative government bodies, Sergei Perminov, Deputy Secretary of the General Council of the EP, told Izvestia.
— We set ourselves the goal of 75 + 1%, that is, we must form political majority factions everywhere that are able to make qualified statutory decisions. This is the task that all regions face in forming our factions," he says.
The EDG will elect 20 governors, deputies of legislative assemblies of 11 subjects and deputies of city assemblies at the municipal level in 25 regions. Vladimir Yakushev, Secretary of the General Council of the EP, previously reported that the ruling party is facing difficult elections in a number of regions, including the Tomsk City Duma, the parliaments of Syktyvkar and the Komi Republic, the regional and metropolitan parliaments of the Kostroma Region, as well as municipal campaigns in Khakassia and the Trans-Baikal Territory.
Traditionally, the main opposition force in Russia is considered to be the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The party will wage a full—fledged struggle for victory at all levels - from gubernatorial campaigns to elections to city and district councils, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yuri Afonin told Izvestia.
— The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is nominating its candidates for the upcoming elections in 19 regions where gubernatorial campaigns will be held. We also expect to increase the number of deputy mandates in regional parliaments, especially in those regions where the Communist Party traditionally has high support, strengthen its position in municipalities and confirm the status of the main opposition force in the country," the politician said.
He added that single-mandate constituencies are of particular importance, as this is a fundamental direction that makes it possible to strengthen the party's position and expand its representation. In addition, the focus will be on regions where elections will be held simultaneously at several levels: the governor, the legislative assembly and local governments. "Among them are the Komi Republic, Kostroma and Kaluga regions," Afonin said.
The LDPR is ready to impose a serious struggle on the Communists. The party's leader, Leonid Slutsky, told Izvestia that he would be satisfied with a solid second place in terms of the number of mandates after United Russia.
— We aim to consolidate the results, including at the level of municipal elections, and the largest as the second political party in Russia. This is the result we have already achieved, but it needs to be confirmed on a Single Voting Day in this year's elections," he said. — Elections are not about numbers, they are about people, and it is for them that any political party exists. The LDPR is the clearest confirmation. Zhirinovsky created it specifically for people and predicted that the time would come for the Liberal Democratic Party. So it's here.
The Fair Russia – For Truth party is also going to participate in elections at all levels, from municipal to gubernatorial, Sergei Mironov, the leader of the SRDP, told Izvestia.
— The minimum task is to have our deputies in all regional parliaments and city assemblies that are being elected this year. The maximum task is to place us at least second in terms of the number of mandates," the politician stressed.
He recalled that last year the party achieved this in the elections to the city assemblies of regional capitals — in terms of the number of elected deputies, the SRDP was in second place after United Russia. In terms of the number of seats in regional legislative assemblies, the SRZP took the third place, after the EP and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. "This year we will try to improve the results even further," Mironov summed up.
The "new people" who appeared on the political scene in 2020 set less ambitious goals, but they also plan to participate in election campaigns at all levels. The party will be elected to legislative assemblies, city councils and municipal councils, party leader Alexei Nechaev told Izvestia.
— Our task is to increase the party's presence in the regions and increase the number of deputies "on the ground." In a number of regions, we will participate in the gubernatorial elections," the politician said.
According to the VTsIOM poll of June 1, 2025, the rating of the parties is led by United Russia with 35%. The LDPR gained a foothold in second place with 11%, overtaking the Communist Party with 9%. The "new people" received 6.7%, and the SRP received 4%. It is worth noting that in most regions a mixed system of elections is used, when some deputies are elected on party lists, and others are elected in single—mandate districts. United Russia, as a rule, wins in the overwhelming number of districts. Together with the high results on the party lists, the EP manages to obtain a qualified majority of mandates in legislative assemblies, so their plans for 75 + 1% look quite realistic.
Forecasts based on the results of the vote from political scientists
The ruling party will show an impressive result on a Single voting day and will take the first place, political analyst Alexander Asafov is sure. "With the general patriotic consensus of the voters, of course, United Russia will receive more votes than others," he said. In recent years, the party has shown growth in all areas where there was a protest vote before, political analyst Alexander Kynev reminded Izvestia. One of the main reasons is the demoralization of the opposition.
— All the other [parties], of course, are falling. But the Communists have fallen the most in recent years, because there is a problem with mobilizing the electorate," the expert emphasized.
According to him, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation used to be the accumulator of any protest with a broad opposition list. However, after the start of the SVR, the situation changed, and the party began to lose its voters. By many, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has become associated not as an opposition, but as a force loyal to the government. At the same time, the LDPR began to increase its votes, which traditionally gains the most in the Far East and in the regions of the North.
In some regions, the LDPR has already reached the second position, so the party will try to maintain and improve this result, Asafov noted. The second place will directly depend on the representation of candidates in the region, Ruslan Andreev, an expert at the Polylogue Group and a political strategist, told Izvestia. "I predict that Communist candidates will not be able to participate in the elections of the VDL (the highest official — the governor) everywhere. — Ed.), therefore, the advantage belongs to the Liberal Democrats," the expert explained.
At the same time, the results of the gubernatorial elections in the Irkutsk region may be the most unpredictable, where a real struggle is expected between candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and United Russia. For the Communists, this election campaign will be of particular importance, said Yuri Afonin. According to him, earlier the communist Sergey Levchenko successfully led this region. Ruslan Andreev also noted that the campaign in the Irkutsk region will be the most difficult.
— The ex-governor from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Levchenko has the resources to assemble a municipal filter and accumulate the electorate around him. If he is on the ballot, there is a high probability of a second round of elections," the expert stressed.
According to Afonin, the campaigns in the Sverdlovsk and Rostov regions and in the Krasnodar Territory, one of the largest regions of the country in terms of the number of voters, will also be significant for the Communists.
The third place should remain for Fair Russia – For the Truth, according to the expert community. The base region of the party will be the Chelyabinsk region, where the Social Revolutionaries previously took second place after United Russia and received seven mandates. "This [the successful SRP campaign in Chelyabinsk] will be such a marker for the presence of the "Socialist Revolutionaries" at least some remnants for survival," stressed Alexander Kynev.
"New People" are consistently in fourth place in all polls. Novosibirsk will become their base subject of the Russian Federation, the political scientist added. By the way, this region is one of the few that has abandoned remote electronic voting (DEG). According to CEC Chairman Ella Pamfilova, 23 regions will use the DEG system, and more than 17 million people will be able to express their will remotely.
As for the public demands of the election campaign, the main challenges remain socio-economic problems — rising prices, difficulties with the passage of the heating season and the work of the housing and communal services system, Ruslan Andreev believes.
It is obvious that the EP will continue to strengthen its position in the regions, remaining almost an uncontested force. Nevertheless, it is not easy to predict the results in several regions, such as the Irkutsk Region and Novosibirsk. The results of the regional campaigns will directly affect the parties' positions in the State Duma elections in 2026, Andreev notes. Therefore, there is no doubt that all political forces will approach the EDG with maximum responsibility.
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