Corresponding elections
illegitimate
The overwhelming majority of the world’s nations does not recognise Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 2014, while international institutions such as the OSCE ODIHR considered Russian elections held in Crimea as illegitimate and did not send international election observers there. In their turn, Ukrainian authorities warned that any participation in the electoral process in Crimea would be illegal.
legitimate
The seventh presidential election in Russia was held on 18 March 2018. With the exception of the election in Russia-annexed Crimea, this election is considered legitimate. The election held in Crimea for the Russian presidency is internationally considered to be an illegitimate election, see more on this at the election page 2018 Russian presidential election in annexed Crimea. The election took place under restrictions on fundamental freedoms and limited space for political engagement.
illegitimate
On 11 November 2018, the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, located within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine, held “elections” to elect a head of the “republic” and members of its “parliament”. The overwhelming majority of the world’s nations does not recognise the sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic, while international institutions such as the OSCE ODIHR considered “elections” there as illegitimate and did not send international election observers there.
illegitimate
On 11 November 2018, the so-called Lugansk People’s Republic, located within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine, held “elections” to elect a head of the “republic” and members of its “parliament”. The overwhelming majority of the world’s nations does not recognise the sovereignty of the Lugansk People’s Republic, while international institutions such as the OSCE ODIHR considered “elections” there as illegitimate and did not send international election observers there.
legitimate
On 29 July 2018, Cambodia held general elections to elect 125 members of the National Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Cambodia. Due to the fact that the Cambodian authorities banned the main opposition party in 2017, Western states declined to send any observers to monitor the general elections.
legitimate
On 30 July 2018, Zimbabwe held general elections to elect the president and members of both houses of parliament. For the first time since 2002, Western institutions sent several missions to monitor the elections in Zimbabwe following the coup d’état in 2017.
legitimate
On the single voting day on 8 September 2019, Russia elected governors in 19 federal subjects and members of legislative bodies in 13 federal subjects. In July 2019, the Moscow City Election Commission (MCEC) refused to register the overwhelming majority of independent opposition candidates for the elections to the Moscow City Duma. This provoked mass protests in Moscow and undermined the legitimacy of the elections.
legitimate
During the single voting day on 9 September 2018, Russia elected 26 regional heads, 7 members of the State Duma, members of 16 regional councils, 4 regional city mayors, and several thousands of municipal heads and council members.
illegitimate
On 9 June 2019, the so-called Republic of South Ossetia, located within the internationally recognised borders of Georgia, held “parliamentary elections”. The overwhelming majority of the world’s nations does not recognise the sovereignty of the Republic of South Ossetia, while international institutions such as the OSCE ODIHR considered “elections” there as illegitimate and did not send international election observers there.
illegitimate
The so-called Republic of Abkhazia, located within the internationally recognised borders of Georgia, held “presidential elections” on 25 August and 8 September 2019. The overwhelming majority of the world’s nations does not recognise the sovereignty of the Republic of Abkhazia, while international institutions such as the OSCE ODIHR considered “elections” there as illegitimate and did not send international election observers there.
legitimate
On 9 February 2020, Azerbaijan held parliamentary elections. They were originally scheduled to take place in November 2020, but were brought forward after parliament was dissolved in December 2019.
legitimate
legitimate
legitimate
legitimate
In order to have a possibility to stay in power until 2036, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided, in January 2020, to change the Constitution of the Russian Federation and legitimise its change through the “all-Russian voting”.
illegitimate
In order to have a possibility to stay in power until 2036, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided, in January 2020, to change the Constitution of the Russian Federation and legitimise its change through the “all-Russian voting”.
The overwhelming majority of the world’s nations does not recognise Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 2014 and international institutions such as the OSCE ODIHR consider Russian elections held in Crimea as illegitimate.
legitimate
Election Day was held on September 10, 2017. 82 out of 85 of Russia's regions took part in the voting. Only in Saint Petersburg, Republic of Ingushetia and Magadan Oblast no elections took place
legitimate
On 25 October 2015 local elections took place in Ukraine. The elections were conducted a little over a year since the 2014 snap local elections, which were only held throughout parts of the country. A second round of voting for the election of mayors in cities with more than 90,000 residents where no candidate gained more than 50% of the votes were held on 15 November 2015. Because of the ongoing conflict in East Ukraine and the February 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia, local elections were not conducted throughout all of the administrative subdivisions of Ukraine/
illegitimate
The overwhelming majority of the world’s nations does not recognise Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 2014, while international institutions such as the OSCE ODIHR consider Russian elections held in Crimea as illegitimate and do not send international election observers there. In their turn, Ukrainian authorities warned that any participation in the electoral process in Crimea would be illegal.
legitimate
The 8th parliamentary election in Russia was held from 17 to 19 September 2021. With the exception of the election in Russia-annexed Crimea, this election is considered legitimate. The election held in Crimea is internationally considered to be an illegitimate election, see more on this on the election page 2021 Russian parliamentary election in annexed Crimea. Opposition candidates and independent observation of the election were prohibited and experts called this the dirtiest election in Russia's history.
legitimate
In anticipation of the OSCE ODIHR mission’s criticism of the Hungarian parliamentary elections, the Hungarian authorities decided that they needed to counterbalance the expected OSCE’s criticism with positive assessments of the elections. To this end, and for the first time in the history of any EU Member State, Orbán’s government invited dozens of friendly politicians, journalists, and civil society activists whose aim was to endorse the elections. These friendly observers – among them members of the European Parliament and of the PACE of the Council of Europe - praised the conduct of the parliamentary elections.
illegitimate
From 23 to 27 September 2022, the Russian forces organised a sham election process - pseudo-referendum as a pretext for the formal annexation of the regions of occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson by Russia. The annexation of the four regions was announced on 30 September 2022.
illegitimate
From 8 to 10 September 2023, the Russian forces organised widely condemned regional and municipal elections in the regions of occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. The results were largely rejected by the international community, with North Korea and Syria being the only ones to explicitly recognise them.
illegitimate
During the “presidential elections” held in Russia from 15-17 March 2024, Vladislav Davankov (“New People” party), Nikolay Kharitonov (Communist Party), Vladimir Putin, and Leonid Slutsky (Liberal-Democratic Party) competed for the presidency. Enabled to run yet again by controversial constitutional amendments effective 4 July 2020, Putin dominated the “elections” together with his controlled “opposition” excluding genuine opposition figures. These “elections” occurred under Putin’s regime control, both within Russia and illegally in occupied Ukrainian territories, including Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, ARC and Sevastopol.