KEY POINTS:
MOSCOW - First official results showed President Vladimir Putin's party winning over 60 per cent of the vote in Russia's election yesterday, a result hailed by the Kremlin as a huge endorsement of Putin and his policies.
Putin, who has presided over eight years of oil-fuelled economic growth,
wanted to win a strong mandate from electors to maintain a position of influence after his second presidential term ends next May.
"The overwhelming majority of Russian voters spoke in favour of United Russia, thus supporting President Putin's course, and spoke in favour of it being continued after the current president's second term ends," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters after early results came in.
But election monitors reported widespread cases of ballot fraud and the Communist Party, likely to be the biggest opposition force in the next parliament, said it would contest the election in the courts.
"These results are not fair. We intend to challenge them in the Supreme Court but we need a week to gather all the evidence," Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov told reporters.
With 13.7 per cent of votes counted, United Russia had 63.3 per cent of the vote, with nearest rivals the Communists on 11.5 per cent, Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov told reporters.
He did not immediately comment on accusations of foul play but United Russia party leader Boris Gryzlov said any violations would "in no way put in doubt" the final result.
Two other parties - both of which have a record of backing the Kremlin - passed the 7 per cent hurdle required to qualify for seats in the State Duma or lower house of parliament.
An exit poll from state-owned pollster VTSIOM gave a similar picture, with Putin's party on 61 per cent and the same four parties in parliament.
According to VTSIOM's calculations, that vote would give pro-Kremlin parties 348 seats in parliament - far more than the 301 needed to change the constitution. This was something analysts say was a key Kremlin target in the election.
This could allow Putin to change the constitution to give himself a third straight term as president.
But the Kremlin chief has repeatedly said he will not do this. And though he has said he envisages retaining influence after he leaves the Kremlin how he will do this remains one of Russia's best-kept secrets.
United Russia's vote - if it stands as the remainder of the voters are counted - will help Putin entrench himself as a "national leader" able to mould policy even after he steps down from the presidency next year.
Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Uralsib investment bank in Moscow, said the results were "not spectacular but good enough to allow President Putin to call the shots after March".
"He now has the initiative in terms of what role he wants to stay on in", said Weafer.
Even before polls closed, opposition parties cried foul, alleging that numerous instances of pressure on voters, a one-sided campaign and systematic electoral fraud undermined the legitimacy of the result.
The main source of complaints was Golos, Russia's only independent election observer. Deputy head Grigory Melkonyans said the election fraud was systematic.
"These are not isolated incidents. The complaints are from every corner of Russia," he said.
Former world chess champion and opposition icon Garry Kasparov, who intentionally spoiled his ballot paper at a Moscow polling station, told reporters: "They are not just rigging the vote, they are raping the whole electoral system."
Early results from votes counted in the Far East indicated Russia's liberal, pro-Western parties would not be represented at all in parliament. Most voters view them with disdain, preferring the president and his party.
"We voted for Putin because we like him," said pensioners Valentina Antonovna, 84, and Zinaida Stepanova, 85, in Moscow. "It's the first time in our lives that we encounter such a president. We love him. And we love his style."
A strong Kremlin push to ensure a high turnout among voters appeared to have succeeded. Central Election Commission officials predicted that more than 60 per cent of voters would take part, up from 56 per cent in the last elections in 2003.
The West's main election monitoring body, the ODIHR, did not monitor Sunday's poll after a row with Moscow over delays in issuing visas for observers.
Fewer than 80 Western observers were monitoring the election across 11 time zones in the world's largest country and most of them were working in Moscow and its environs.
- REUTERS
