Russia election: Monitors say vote skewed for Putin

Russia's presidential election was "clearly skewed" in favour of the winner, Vladimir Putin, international monitors have said.

With 99% of ballots counted, Mr Putin, the current prime minister, had won nearly 64% of the vote. Monitors urged any fraud to be fully investigated.

Opposition activists have gathered in Moscow and other cities for protests.

In Yekaterinburg, the main city in the Urals, hundreds are reportedly marching, chanting "Putin thief!"

A Facebook page advertising the Moscow rally has received nearly 9,500 pledges to attend - a number much smaller than at opposition gatherings after the December parliamentary election.

'Carousel voting'

Amid claims of widespread fraud, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) urged Russia to carry out a thorough investigation.

In a statement on the OSCE website, monitors said that while all candidates had been able to campaign freely, there had been "serious problems" from the start.

"The point of elections is that the outcome should be uncertain," said Tonino Picula, co-ordinator of the OSCE mission.

Mr Putin's top officials do not accept that he has been damaged in any way by the allegations of fraud. All the same, things are changing fast in Russia.

The protest movement, which was given a big boost by allegations against the fairness of last December's parliamentary election, will grow even more now. Increasingly, middle-class, educated voters dislike the whole Putin approach and this is a country where the middle class is growing year on year. This time, though, no serious alternative to Mr Putin was standing and even people who detested him felt they had to vote for him.

Mr Putin will blame Western interference for the protests but that is a strategy which has diminishing results. His main spokesman told me Mr Putin was really a liberal and was changing as Russia changed.

But that is unlikely to make Mr Putin easier for Western governments to deal with and British officials in particular think he may, if anything, be more difficult and more touchy especially if the protests continue rather than fade away.

Will Mr Putin last out his six-year term? A surprising number of political observers think he will not and it is very hard indeed to think he will get another term after this one.

"This was not the case in Russia. There was no real competition and abuse of government resources ensured that the ultimate winner of the election was never in doubt."

The election was held against a backdrop of discontent, sparked by allegations of widespread fraud during the December election in favour of Mr Putin's United Russia party.

On Sunday, irregularities were seen particularly during the vote count "which was assessed negatively in almost one-third of polling stations observed", the OSCE said.

Earlier Golos, a leading Russian independent election watchdog, said it had received more than 3,000 reports of voting fraud.

The watchdog said its own exit polls suggested Mr Putin had actually won just over 50% of the vote - a result that would still have elected him in the first round.

State TV exit polls had given him about 59% of the vote.

Other allegations, including videos purporting to show evidence of voting irregularities, have been circulating online.

There were reports of "carousel voting", with voters being bussed between polling stations to cast multiple ballots, and of people being paid to vote for Mr Putin.

Alexei Navalny, a popular protest leader, told Reuters he had received reports of violations all day and that the carousels were "complete impudence".

In other developments

• The UK acknowledged the Russian presidential election had delivered "a decisive result" in favour of Vladimir Putin despite "some problems"
• French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "Despite some criticism... the re-election of President Putin is not in doubt"

• EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton urged Russia to address "shortcomings" over the vote, a spokeswoman said

• Russian police detained a man allegedly planning to set off bombs at Moscow rallies on Monday and Tuesday

• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a legal review of the conviction of former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky

'Glory to Russia!'

Organisers of Monday's rally in Moscow said on Facebook: "We consider the presidential election not free and not legitimate.

"It was run by the same electoral commission which stole our votes on 4 December [at the parliamentary election]."

Alexei Pushkov, an adviser to Mr Putin, told the BBC that while there might have been violations, they had happened on all sides, and would not have distorted the final result.

Speaking to tens of thousands of supporters in Moscow on Sunday night, an emotional Mr Putin said he had won in an open and honest battle.

"I promised you we would win, and we won - glory to Russia!" he said.

Mr Putin moved into the post of prime minister in 2008 because of a constitutional ban on a third consecutive term as president.

He will return to the presidency in May - replacing his close ally Dmitry Medvedev - and remain in post until 2018, when he could then run for another six-year term.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 839