St Petersburg - Fiercely contested local elections in St Petersburg appeared to be going peacefully yesterday despite a scandal-ridden campaign and last month's murder of the city's leading democrat, Ms Galina Starovoitova.
Nearly 600 candidates are competing for 50 seats in the as sembly. Many districts are likely to see a second-round run-off poll on December 20th for seats where no candidate wins over 50 per cent of the vote.
