Russians voted in parliamentary elections marred by claims of massive fraud and intimidation of observers.
Two hours before the polling stations closed in Moscow, just over 50 per cent of voters cast their ballots, which suggested a lower turnout than in the previous election. Seven parties are in the fray for 450 seats in the State Duma, the Lower House of Parliament.
Independent election watchdog Golos (Voice) and opposition parties claimed they had spotted thousands of violations including ballot stuffing and “carousel” voting when groups of people are bussed from one polling booth to another to cast their votes repeatedly. However, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said it had received less than 70 violation reports.
Golos said 80 per cent of its monitors deployed across the country were denied entry to polling stations. The websites of Golos, as well as Echo Mosky, a popular liberal radio station in Moscow, and several online media outlets were hacked on the day of voting, apparently to prevent them from reporting on election violations.
For the first time, there have been no nation-wide exit polls. Only two pollsters applied to CEC for permission to carry out exit polls ahead of elections, but both said they failed to secure the necessary funding.
Pre-election polls showed a sharp drop in support for the ruling party, United Russia, which is likely to lose its absolute majority in the new House.
