11 Russian regions were electing members of local parliaments on the same day that the country voted for its future President. In almost all of the regions local officials did their best to trouble all parties, except for United Russia. Their attempts were not always successful, though
Rostov-on-Don region will have the only two-chamber parliament, with 45 lawmakers representing United Russia and 5 - the Communist party (compared to only one Communist in the previous parliament) - the local legislation has been change to accommodate a minimum of two fractions. According to Rostov city UR leader Sergei Chuev, his party's average result in the region equaled 71.6 percent.
UR's opponents cite different figures. Fair Russia members, who won 6.8 percent of the vote (with 7 percent required to win representation in the parliament) claim there were lots of irregularities and offenses during the vote. FR's regional head Yevgeny Cherepahin says his party, in collaboration with Communists, has manage to record a few cases of false ballots 'throw-in'. FR members say elections in Rostov-on-Don 'lacked European political culture', having more in common with former Soviet states such as Uzbekistan. Head of local electoral commission Sergei Yusov said he had received 16 complaints about the voting, but said there was 'no proof' for the most of the cited cases.
In Rostov, Communists scored 15.8 percent, and LDPR - 5.36. The latter party's candidate Andrei Lugovoy, known as suspected in Britain as Litvinenko murder suspect, failed to help his political allies make their way to the local parliament.
Fair Russia was not victorious in many other places and did not win seats in Bashkortostan, Kalmukia and Yekaterinburg region. In Ulyanovsk, where the party won 7.77 percent of the vote, securing a place in the parliament, United Russia's victory was sweeping - 66.5 percent, with local governor also being a member of UR. Other lawmakers will represent Communists (16 percent) and LDPR (7 percent).
In Yakutia, Russia's largest territory, the FR where lucky. At first, local authorities tried to bar the party from participating, but after a court decision, the FR took part in the elections and won 15 percent (with UR at 52, compared to 64 they won at last year's federal election).
The Communist Party of Russian Federation has improved their results compared to last year's vote. Attempts by officials to disrupt the Commies' campaign have only helped them to attract more voters. The party won 17.5 percent in Amur, almost 16 in Yakutia and as much as 22.38 in Kalmykia. CPRF can be called Russia's only opposition party - the increase of supporters is not a sight of Communist ideas becoming more popular. Rather, many people voted for Commies in protest.
Anyway, the regional parliamentary election was United Russia's benefit performance (86 percent in Bashkortostan, 74.1 in Ingushetia, 62 in Amur region, 58.4 in Yekaterinburg, 55.1 in Kalmykia, etc). Although not winning absolute leadership everywhere, United Russia will be a dominating force in every region's political life.
Alexander Popov, Alyona Sedlak
Photo: ITAR-TASS
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