Russian Election Boosts Putin, Sparks Protests

Posted on Dec 3, 2007

The results of Sunday’s parliamentary election in Russia, which resulted in a sweeping victory for Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, and signaled that the president will stay in power beyond the end of his second term next spring, are being questioned on a national and international scale.  However, Putin insisted that United Russia’s big win, with around 64 percent of the vote, wasn’t the product of any electoral foul play.

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AP via My Way News:

The victory paves the way for Putin to remain Russia’s de facto leader even after he leaves office next spring. On Monday, Putin described the weekend’s election as a vote of confidence in him.

“I headed the United Russia ticket and, of course, it’s a sign of public trust,” Putin said in televised remarks.

Sunday’s vote followed a tense Kremlin campaign that relied on a combination of persuasion and intimidation to ensure victory for the United Russia party and for Putin, who has used a flood of oil revenues to move his country into a more assertive position on the global stage.

Opposition leader Garry Kasparov denounced the legitimacy of the vote.

“There are no illusions that what is being called elections was the most unfair and dirtiest in the whole history of modern Russia,” the former chess champion said at a news conference.

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