RUSSIA REGIONAL ELECTIONS

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16040600&PageNum=0

14.03.2011, 11.45

MOSCOW, March 14 (Itar-Tass) - The United Russia party is confidently in the lead at elections in all 12 constituent entities of the Russian federation, where elections to regional parliaments were held on Sunday, March 13.

United Russia has had the biggest success in the Chukotka Autonomous Area, where it got more than 71 percent of the votes.

In all other regions - with the exception of the Kirov region (where it got 36.7 percent) – the United Russia party lists got more than 40 percent. However, in the Kirov region as well, by winning in single-mandate constituencies, United Russia will get half of the seats in the regional parliament.

These are only preliminary data of the Central Election Commission (CEC), the official results will be summed up by the commissions of the related RF subjects. In addition, it should be taken into account that the votes got by candidates of parties in single-mandate constituencies will also be counted.

United Russia is the largest political party in the Russian Federation, currently holding 315 of the 450 seats in the State Duma. It describes itself as a conservative party and supports the policies of the presidential administration of Dmitry Medvedev. The party’s association with popular former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been the key to its success. There is also evidence that the electorate credits the party for improvements in the economy. The party was founded in December 2001, through a merger of the Unity and Fatherland-All Russia parties. United Russia is a large and diverse party. This has resulted into creation of internal subdivisions. The party has 4 internal groupings, organised around common policy interests. In addition, the party makes use of 3 internal political clubs to debate policy: one that is pro-market oriented, a social-democratic one and a third which focuses on patriotic and moral concerns.

United Russia leads in Sunday’s regional elections

Mar 14, 2011 09:57 Moscow Time

According to the Central Elections Commission, the United Russia party is in the lead following a single voting day in Russia’s 74 territorial entities on Sunday. The Communists are second in most of the Russian regions, save for Chukotka, where they failed to poll 5% to qualify for seats in local legislatures, and also in Dagestan, where they lost to the Patriots of Russia party. The other parliamentary parties, - the Just Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, have mostly shared the third and the fourth places. According to the Central Elections Commission, the turnout proved higher than in previous years. Observers refer to Sunday’s regional elections as a sort of general rehearsal in the run-up to the State Duma elections that are due in December.  

Putin's party wins Russia vote

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1116362/1/.html

Posted: 14 March 2011 1353 hrs

MOSCOW: Russia's ruling party scored a resounding victory Monday in regional elections that served as a closely watched test run for December's parliamentary and next year's presidential polls.

Preliminary results showed United Russia with commanding leads in each of the 12 local legislative elections in a vote that the losing Communist Party said was riddled with fraud.

Election monitors from Russia's Golos association also said the vote had been rigged.

United Russia rides the coattails of its chairman and Russia's former president Vladimir Putin and already includes the vast majority of the country's political elite.

The party's leader in parliament -- where it can pass Kremlin legislations without anyone else's support -- said the results showed that United Russia's dominance in Russia was here to stay.

"This tells us that the country's political system ... works in the voters' favour and that they they trust it," Boris Gryzlov said in statement posted on the party's website.

"I would like to thank all the voters. This is both an evaluation of the party, (a sign of) support for the authorities, support of the president and support for our party leader Putin," he added in televised remarks.

United Russia was further boosted by figures showing turnout of about 50 percent -- higher than previous local elections.

The results flew in the face of polls indicating lower levels of support for a party that in November was personally condemned by President Dmitry Medvedev for "showing symptoms of stagnation".

The state-controlled media has recently highlighted a series of corruption scandals involving United Russia officials. Surveys had suggested that voters' resentment was also growing because of rising food prices.

Communist Party boss Gennady Zyuganov called the polls the most fraud-riddled in Russia's post-Soviet era.

"We witnessed United Russia using all the dirty tricks invented in the past 15-20 years," Interfax quoted Zyuganov as saying. "This ugliness did not exist before."

The Communist Party had its best showing in central Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region where it looked to be placed second with about 29 percent of the vote.

Zyuganov's claims of fraud were confirmed by activists from Russia's Golos association, an independent election monitoring organisation.

More than 400 Golos election observers had been expected to monitor polls, but many gave up after reportedly being contacted by either the police or Russia's powerful Federal Security Service (FSB).

One of the group's correspondents said he had been beaten up at a polling station in the Kaliningrad region as election officials and the authorities looked on.

-AFP/ac
The Irish Times - Monday, March 14, 2011