Single Voting Day 2025: Another test passed, but public trust in the political elite causes great concern

From September 12 to 14, 2025, Russia held its annual Single Voting Day, featuring elections at regional and municipal levels. This electoral campaign was widely seen as a “dress rehearsal” for the 2026 State Duma elections, and many experts concluded that this “test was passed successfully”. However, for several years now, some analysts have pointed out that local elections are increasingly becoming a formality, losing their potential as a tool for diagnosing the relationship between society and the authorities. This article presents the key findings of a long-term monitoring project of regional election campaigns, conducted since 2018 as part of the Editorial column, which includes a comparative analysis of sociological data on public attitudes towards the country's main political parties. As a stage in this monitoring, an in-depth analysis of the 2025 Single Voting Day results is provided: using official data from the Russian Central Election Commission, voter turnout and support for United Russia across regions and regional capitals are analyzed; a review of expert opinions on the concluded campaign is presented; and its specific features in 2025 are examined, including in the context of the geopolitical and civilizational challenges Russia has faced throughout the 21st century and especially since the start of the special military operation. Furthermore, the article continues its monitoring of key managerial decisions made by the President, the State Duma, and the Government. Particular attention is paid to analyzing expert opinions, criminal statistics, and actual instances of detentions of representatives of the ruling “elites”, which indicates a persistent and growing problem of their disconnect from the publicly declared, nationally-oriented development agenda of the Russian Federation, as articulated by the head of state. The authors highlight expert views that public trust in the political elite continues to raise significant and substantial questions. Despite the importance of internal political stability amid a tense international situation and ongoing hostilities within the framework of the SMO, the political system is not yet effective enough in fulfilling its role to meet the public demand for forming a Vision of Russia's Future and a new Social Contract that aligns with the President's stated goals of strengthening traditional values and the core principles of a genuine social state.