DOMINANT ANGLE
Buenos Aires is dissecting an election without real opposition, held at the very moment Kyiv was striking Moscow with drones
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
United Russia gets 57.86% of the list votes with over 90% of ballots counted, enough to secure a constitutional majority of 450 seats, according to the Central Electoral Commission cited by Infobae.
- 02
Over 1,600 Ukrainian drones were intercepted on the last night of voting, including around 450 targeting Moscow, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin cited by La Nación.
- 03
The only party opposed to the war, Yabloko, was excluded from the vote, according to Infobae.
ANALYSIS
Buenos Aires, September 21, 2026. The Argentine press reports on a dual Russian event: the announced victory of United Russia in the legislative elections and the largest-ever Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow, which occurred on the last day of voting. La Nación headlines "elections without surprise", noting that the opposition "practically did not participate" in the vote. According to the Central Electoral Commission cited by Infobae, with over 90% of ballots counted, United Russia obtains 57.86% of the party list votes, which would secure it around 130 seats out of the 225 allocated by proportional representation and the lead in 208 of the 225 single-member constituencies, more than enough to exceed the 301 seats needed for a constitutional majority in the 450-seat Duma.
Infobae recalls that this majority allowed for the reform of the Constitution in 2020 and the lifting of the limit preventing Vladimir Putin from running again in 2024, paving the way for him until 2036. Far behind, the Communist Party obtains 13.84%, the ultra-nationalists of the Liberal Democratic Party 8.9%, and New People 7.94%; Fair Russia, at 4.95%, would remain below the parliamentary threshold by party list. The only party opposed to the war, Yabloko, was excluded from the vote, notes Infobae without detailing the reasons.
On the military front, La Nación relays the Russian report: over 1,600 drones intercepted during the last night of voting, including around 450 targeting the capital, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, who describes the assault as the "largest attack in history" against Moscow. The Ministry of Defense puts the total at 1,951 drones and eight cruise missiles shot down across the territory in 24 hours. The newspaper cites a toll of at least two dead and around twenty injured, including three children, as well as a residential building hit near Moscow, which forced the evacuation of around 400 inhabitants; the Moscow oil refinery is among the sites struck.
For the Argentine press, the coincidence of the two events — a vote sealed in advance and the war invading the Russian capital — illustrates above all the absence of real political competition in Russia, more than the military outcome of the assault itself.
