The election comes as Russians confront a slowing economy and Ukrainian drone strikes targeting refineries and warehouses far from the front line. United Russia, the governing party that backs President Vladimir Putin, is expected to retain its dominant position.
While authorities are presenting the election as an opportunity for voters to have their say, critics argue that the absence of genuine opposition on the ballot means the outcome is largely settled in advance.
The elections will also include local contests. Voters in 11 regions will elect governors, while 39 regions will elect members of regional legislatures.
Voting will take place over three days to boost turnout among the 111 million eligible voters and will include areas Russia occupies in Ukraine. Electronic voting is also permitted.
Half of the State Duma’s 450 seats will be filled through party lists, while the other half will be contested in single-ballot races.
United Russia, formed in 2001 through a merger of pro-Kremlin parties, has backed Putin and dominated parliament ever since. Its party list is led by political heavyweights Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat for 22 years, and Sergei Sobyanin, the powerful mayor of Moscow.
In an apparent effort to introduce fresh faces into what is widely viewed as a party dominated by bureaucrats, its third-highest-ranking official is war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny, who was badly wounded by a Ukrainian drone.
United Russia members have pledged to support the war effort and Putin’s maximalist goals in what the Kremlin calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Alongside United Russia, other “systemic opposition” parties that vote in sync with the government on key issues are also expected to remain in parliament.
The liberal Yabloko Party, the only registered political party that opposes the war, was initially on the ballot, but the Supreme Court ordered it removed in August.
The court cited, among other reasons, that the party’s antiwar stance was akin to seeking the violation of Russia’s territorial integrity. Yabloko now runs only in single-ballot races.
The Communist Party has been a leading force in the Federal Assembly since the 1990s and has been led for more than three decades by 82-year-old Gennady Zyuganov, a former Soviet official.
Throughout Putin’s more than a quarter-century in power, the Communists have criticised some aspects of government policy while carefully avoiding criticism of him. They also steadfastly support the war in Ukraine.
Alexander Bratersky, a political analyst and independent journalist, told Al Jazeera that the race for second place is worth watching.
If the Communist Party finishes second, it would “suggest voters are angry about economic hardship and falling living standards”, Bratersky said.
The Liberal Democratic Party, an ultranationalist force that has maintained a significant presence in the legislature since the early 1990s, will also likely retain some influence in the Duma.
Like the Communists, it staunchly supports the war and has multiple veterans among its members.
Other smaller parties also remain on the ballot.
A Just Russia has been part of Russia’s political scene for 20 years. The social-democratic party competes with the Communists for older and middle-aged voters nostalgic for the Soviet past and supports the war in Ukraine.
The New People Party was founded shortly before the 2021 parliamentary election, seeking to position itself as a liberal voice representing younger voters and technocrats. It won just more than 5 percent of the vote, allowing it to form a small faction.
Bratersky described the party as “a liberal-leaning party backed by some Kremlin people who are more technocratic and more pro-peace”.
He said it appeals to the “middle-class audience” and, after the Kremlin banned Yabloko, has been viewed as its substitute.
“So, if they come third with a good number of votes, this is a sign that those who are antiwar used them as their legal avatar,” he said.
Other parties seeking seats include Communists of Russia, a small rival to the main Communist Party; the Party of Pensioners; the Green Party; the Party of Direct Democracy; and the Motherland Party.
For the Kremlin, the elections carry significance beyond the routine process of choosing lawmakers. Bratersky told Al Jazeera that their importance stems from the fact that they are the first parliamentary elections since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Putin has linked the election to support for the war. At United Russia’s party congress in August, he endorsed the governing party and said its duty was “to do everything for victory” in the war in Ukraine.
“This shows that the Kremlin is a bit worried since the elections are the only legal way to show disrespect for the Kremlin,” Bratersky said. “Even Putin’s core fans hate United Russia as a corrupt force.”
With the vote taking place against the backdrop of the war, economic pressure and Ukraine’s drone strikes on targets far from the front line, the election will provide a closely watched measure of how Russia’s political system operates during the country’s first parliamentary vote since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
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