Putin party closes on big victory /BBC
Turnout at the election is believed to have been very high President Vladimir Putin's party has won a landslide victory in Russian elections, early official results show. With 38% of ballots counted, his United Russia had 63.1% of the vote. The Communists and two other parties looked set to pass the 7% needed to win seats. Opposition allegations of fraud were dismissed by the electoral commission. Mr Putin has said a strong result would give him the authority to retain political power after his presidential term ends next year, possibly as PM. The Communists, on 11.5%, say they will mount a legal challenge to the result, citing alleged voting irregularities. [Photo] [Photo] Of course there are violations but... They in no way put in doubt the final result [Photo]
Boris Gryzlov
Leader, United Russia [Photo]
Food, music welcome voters In pictures: Russia votes Profile: Vladimir Putin "We do not trust these figures announced by the central elections commission and we will conduct a parallel count," Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said. In the US. the White House also urged Russian authorities to investigate reports of fraud. United Russia's leader, Boris Gryzlov, acknowledged there had been violations but dismissed them as insignificant. "Of course there are violations but the question is do they have an impact on the final result... They in no way put in doubt the final result." "The fact that these violations have been registered shows that we have a transparent ballot," he said. Independent monitors have complained their attempts to observe the poll were hampered. [Photo] RESULTS SO FAR With 38% of vote counted United Russia: 63.1% Communist Party of Russia: 11.5% Liberal Democratic Party of Russia: 9.4% A Fair Russia (Mothers/Pensioners/Life): 7.6% Source: Central Election Commission The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) abandoned its plans to send a big team of election observers, accusing Moscow of imposing curbs and delaying visas. Russia denied the claims. Only a much smaller group of MPs from the OSCE's parliamentary assembly attended the election, leaving some 330 foreign monitors covering 95,000 polling stations. The independent Russian monitoring group Golos reported various violations it said amounted to "an organised campaign", including: Entering those voting for United Russia into a prize lottery, reported in St Petersburg Transporting voters by bus between polling stations, to vote multiple times, in Moscow and St Petersburg Opposition party observers being detained for "looking suspicious", in Samara Voters being given ballots already filled out for United Russia, in Pestovo However, the chairman of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov, told Russian television he knew of "no serious violations in the course of polling day". Eleven parties were competing for places in the lower house, the Duma. [Photo] Many Russians are proud of Vladimir Putin's achievements But apart from United Russia, only three polled enough votes to enter parliament, according to early results - the Communists, A Fair Russia and the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party. The latter two are allied to United Russia, meaning parties loyal to the Kremlin are expected to have 348 seats in the 450-seat parliament, according to a state-owned polling agency. This would give United Russia and its allies enough support to push through possible changes to the constitution. Mr Gryzlov of United Russia said the election was "a referendum on President Putin so I think we can say he has won a victory". The party will nominate its candidate for next year's presidential elections at a congress later this month, Mr Gryzlov said. Options for Putin Mr Putin is constitutionally obliged to stand down after his second term as president ends in March next year. According to the BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow, his party's apparent landslide win in Sunday's election will enable him to continue wielding great influence in politics - even if he is no longer in high office. Mr Putin announced earlier this year that he may seek the office of prime minister after his presidential term ends. If predictions are right and the Liberal Democratic Party enters parliament, it means its candidate Andrei Lugovoi would be guaranteed a seat. Mr Lugovoi is wanted in Britain over the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, but a parliamentary seat would grant him immunity from prosecution and extradition.
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