PUTIN'S "ELECTION" A SHAM OF A MOCKERY OF A TRAVESTY

BBC:

Monitors denounce Russia election

Ballot papers at a polling station in Moscow Foreign observers have said that Russia's parliamentary election, won by President Vladimir Putin's party, was "not fair".

The statement was made by a joint observer team of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe.

With nearly 98% of ballots counted, Mr Putin's United Russia had 64.1% of Sunday's vote.

Mr Putin said the poll was "legitimate" and a vote of public trust in him.

"[The elections were] the most unfair and dirtiest in the whole history of modern Russia"
Garry Kasparov, Russian opposition leader

Criticism cannot mask reality

Press sees tainted triumph

The election showed that Russians would not allow their nation to develop along a "destructive path" as had happened in several former Soviet countries, Mr Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Opposition claims of fraud have been rejected by Russia's electoral commission.

'Not a level playing field'

The election "was not fair and failed to meet many OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections," the observers from the OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly told a news conference in Moscow.

"The vote affirmed the main idea - that Vladimir Putin is the national leader"
Boris Gryzlov, United Russia leader

The statement said the polls "took place in an atmosphere which seriously limited political competition" and that "there was not a level political playing field".

"Frequent abuse of administrative resources, media coverage strongly in favour of the ruling party and an election code whose cumulative effect hindered political pluralism" had tainted the polls, the observers said.

The OSCE had abandoned its plans to send a large team of monitors, accusing Moscow of imposing curbs and delaying visas. Russia denied the claims.

Only a much smaller group of members of the OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly had attended the election, leaving some 330 foreign monitors covering nearly 100,000 polling stations.

The opposition Communists and two other parties - A Fair Russia and the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party - were also poised to win seats in the 450-member lower chamber of the parliament, the State Duma.

The country's liberal opposition parties looked certain to fail to clear the 7% threshold needed to enter parliament.

The Communists have said they will mount a legal challenge to the result, and will decide shortly whether to boycott the new parliament.

"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 after the vote.

• THOUGH PUTIN'S THUGS HAVEN'T TAKEN RUSSIA COMPLETELY BACK TO SQUARE ONE (YET), IT DOES LOOK LIKE - AT THE VERY LEAST - WE NEED TO START BROADCASTING A NEW VERSION OF "RADIO FREE RUSSIA."

ASIDE: EVEN GENNADY ZYUGAMOV - WHO HAS BEEN LEADING THE COMMIES SINCE THE FALL OF THE USSR - IS DENOUNCING THE ELECTION: HOW FREAKIN RICH!