Russia:Rule-breaking and pressure on voters were running at unprecedented levels in yesterday's Russian parliament elections as authorities attempted to swell the vote for the pro-Kremlin party, independent Russian observers and opposition parties alleged.
Lilya Shibanova, director of Golos, a coalition of non-governmental organisations with 2,000 monitors in 40 Russian regions, said violations were "many times" worse than at the last parliamentary elections in 2003.
"We have never had an election like this in Russia," she said. "This is worse than the dirtiest regional elections."
President Vladimir Putin's decision to head the candidate list for the pro-Kremlin United Russia party raised the stakes by turning the election into a referendum on his popularity.
Opposition and pro-democracy groups said that the authorities were doing everything possible to ensure a turnout well over 50 per cent and a sizeable United Russia majority.
Observers from the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe will give preliminary reports on the poll today. But the international observer contingent was weakened after the OSCE's main elections arm, the office for democratic institutions and human rights, cancelled its mission, citing unacceptable restrictions on its work.
Russia's Central Electoral Commission denied there had been numerous violations and insisted the election had taken place "calmly". But the commission acknowledged to the independent Ekho Moskvy radio station it was aware of some cases of voters being bussed around polling stations and voting using "absentee ballots", usually issued to electors unable to vote at their local polling booth.
The liberal Yabloko party said its observers had located a bus whose occupants had apparently voted on multiple occasions.
Golos said it had reports students and factory workers in some regions had been told to get absentee ballots, then vote at polling stations in their universities or workplaces.
Opposition groups warned ballot papers issued at local polling stations for those who then voted elsewhere would be available for ballot stuffing - when officials use spare ballot papers to increase total votes.
Golos said about four times as many absentee ballots had been issued as in 2003.
Vadim Solovyov, a senior Communist party legal official, said the level of violations was "incomparable" with 2003.
"Before there were episodic violations, but now it is systemic," he said. "[ United Russia] have the whole power of the state behind them, and it is very difficult to fight against them."
Mr Solovyov said party observers had seen evidence of ballot stuffing in Dagestan, in southern Russia, and the Muslim republic of Bashkortostan, in both of which turnout was unusually high.
They also said they had caught one polling station head in Siberia offering voters Rbs1,000 (€28) to vote for United Russia.
- (Financial Times service)