Ruling party claims overwhelming victory in Russian regional elections

[News_Editor]

Ruling party claims overwhelming victory in Russian regional elections

2010-10-12 02:26:49 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) – United Russia, the country's ruling party, on Monday claimed an overwhelming victory in last weekend's weekend elections in 77 regions amidst complaints of the opposition which said it was the dirtiest election campaign in history, the Moscow Times reported.

With the results, United Russia recorded a 4 percent increase from the last regional elections in March by winning 56 percent of the weekend vote. Analysts added that the weekend's results offered a picture of a possible scenario for the presidential vote in 2012.

On Sunday, six Russian regions held elections for their parliaments. Preliminary results from Tuva, Magadan, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Kostroma and Belgorod regions gave the ruling party victories with between 40 and 80 percent of the vote. Parties not in the State Duma were given little to no support.

United Russia substantially improved its results in comparison with previous elections in the six regions and gaining majorities in each of the regional legislatures. For example, in Magadan, United Russia recorded 56 percent of the votes in contrast with 28.7 percent in the 2005 elections.

The ruling party's competition, the Communist party, A Just Russia and Liberal Democratic party, said that the elections were unfair and called for justice and challenges of the results. Sergei Mironov, the Just Russia leader, said that United Russia used dirty tricks in the election.

Mironov added that his party issued over 200 complaints about violations during the election weekend and pledged to push for a ban on absentee ballots, which allegedly were used to inflate turnout figures.

Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky also said his party has found numerous violations. Deputy Interior Minister Mikhail Sukhodolsky said 17 criminal cases have been opened in relation to the elections.

In October 2009, the dominance of regional election of United Russian led the three parties in the lower house of parliament to stage a walkout the State Duma in protest against the alleged violations.

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