main party support Vladimir Putin Parliamentary elections are far ahead, with early exit polls today indicating that allegations of vote-rigging have set in.
Russian Far East polls suggest supporters of Kremlin United Russia The vote was between 40 and 45 percent, with the Communists in second place with about 18 percent.
ultranationalist liberal Democrats Were short of ten percent, while other parties struggled in single figures.
Another exit poll, based on voting in Moscow and St Petersburg, suggested that United Russia had 44 per cent and opposition communists 21 per cent.
But shocking videos emerged, purportedly showing illegal rigging in favor of the main pro-Putin party that pundits hope to get a clear majority.
In Vladivostok, a camera mounted behind a plant clearly shows an officer marking several previously empty ballots.
In Belovo, Kemerovo region, a figure hidden behind a woman in yellow repeatedly fills ballots into the ballot box.
In the Bryansk region, two women are seen packing ballots in a box, as laughter is heard in the polling station.
Pyotr Dubrava, an election official at polling station 706 in the Samara region – marked in a red frame – is seen filling out papers before audaciously walking to put them in a ballot box
In Belovo, Kemerovo region, a figure hiding behind a woman I turn yellow repeatedly fills ballots into a ballot box
A medical worker helps a patient cast a vote at a hospital during parliamentary elections in Voronezh, Russia
Pyotr Dubrava, an election official at polling station 706 in the Samara region, is seen filling out papers before audaciously walking into the ballot box.
Most of the ‘abuses’ proceeded in the sight of CCTV cameras.
All these cases are highlighted by opposition sites as evidence of major parliamentary election rigging.
There were reports of voters being bribed in Transbaikal, where one said they were offered 150 rubles (£1.50) for their vote as well as Yakutia and Novosibirsk.
Elsewhere, several times people’s vehicles were claimed to be driving around polling stations to cast their votes.
At one polling station in Yakutia, about 30 percent of ballots had not arrived, fearing they would be completed illegally, to be added to the pile of votes in the counting.
Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said that in three regions, local election commission heads were fired after “extra ballots were found” at polling stations.
Chechen women wearing Chechen national costumes exit a polling station at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Grozny, Russia, on Sunday
A woman casts her vote at a polling station during the parliamentary election at the Russian Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania
Medical workers vote for a patient in a hospital on Sunday during parliamentary elections in Voronezh, Russia
He said that the regions were Bryansk, Kemerovo and the Republic of Adygea.
“As of now, eight cases of ballot filling have been confirmed,” he said.
But the move was seen as a symbolic initiative that was unlikely to convince the opposition that the election was fair.
Key foes of Putin have been banned or imprisoned in recent months, and their parties, such as anti-reform campaigner Alexei Navalny, have now been jailed.
Some have been labeled ‘extremists’ or ‘foreign agents’.
Despite this, Navalny has repeatedly posted messages during the election calling for tactical voting against pro-Putin candidates.
The popular Telegram messenger removed Navalny’s ‘smart voting’ bot, while the opposition claimed the Western web giant was scared to remove Google Docs and YouTube videos containing lists of candidates recommended by the Kremlin.
Yet many opposition parties hoped that the Kremlin would regularly get little advantage on key issues.
Putin remained in self-isolation during the three days of voting following an alleged outbreak of Kovid-19 in his party.
The turnout reached 40.49 per cent till 2:50 pm today, the last day of polling, officials said.
The impact of online voting – more widely available in previous elections – was not clear.
An opposition activist told: ‘Kul’ [ballot] Stuffing continues in St. Petersburg.
‘Criminals are not ashamed of anything and they throw the pack (of votes) under the cameras of the observers.
‘They know very well that they will not be punished, but they will be promoted.’
Earlier, large queues of ‘state employees’, including soldiers, were seen at polling stations across the country amid claims that they were ordered to vote at specific places to influence the result.
In a week when Russia has seen non-stop war games close to its western borders, it looked like the latest military exercise: Operation Get Out the Vote.
A woman is detained after carrying a bag filled with more than 100 ballots to a polling place in St Petersburg.
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