Dec. 2 -- Russians heeded President Vladimir Putin's call to vote in today's parliamentary election, which his United Russia party is set to win in a landslide, in what is seen as a referendum on his future role.
As of 4 p.m. Moscow time, turnout nationwide was 42.5 percent, up from 35.8 percent at the same time in the 2003 parliamentary election, Central Election Commission Deputy Chairman Stanislav Vavilov said in comments broadcast on state television.
Putin, 55, called for voters to back his party in a nationwide televised address on Nov. 29. He has said he wants to retain influence after his term ends next year, adding that solid support in this election will give him a ``moral right'' to do that. He has yet to reveal how, and in what role, he plans to stay in power.
``Thank God the election campaign is over,'' Putin said at a Moscow polling station located in the headquarters of the Russian Academy of Sciences. ``I'm certain that voters have made their choices, and now they just have to go out and vote for the party whose platform they find convincing and for the people they trust,'' he said in comments broadcast on state television.
Apart from United Russia, only the Communist Party is sure of returning deputies to the State Duma, or lower house of parliament, opinion polls show. Two others, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and Fair Russia, which also support Putin, may also garner enough votes to get above the threshold for winning seats of 7 percent of the total vote. Eleven parties are contesting the election.
Communist Criticism
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said that ``in many regions it's clear this election is not democratic, not fair and not free.'' Even under former President Boris Yeltsin, the government did not manipulate elections to this extent, Zyuganov said in comments posted on his party's Web site. The Communists deployed about 300,000 observers at polling stations across Russia.
Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov has repeatedly said the vote will be free and fair and ``will proceed in accordance with the law.'' Human rights group Amnesty International said it was ``gravely concerned'' by ``systematic disregard for basic human rights'' in the campaign.
The vote kicks off a voting cycle that culminates March 2 in a presidential election. Putin can't run again, as the constitution bars a president from serving more than two consecutive terms. While he has said he may become prime minister under the next president, Putin has refrained from endorsing a possible successor until the campaign starts.
Presidential Party
Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, a co-chairman of United Russia, said the party could announce its presidential candidate as early as Dec. 17, the Interfax news service reported.
The polls have closed in eight of Russia's 11 time zones. In the Far Eastern region of Chukotka, located across the Bering Strait from the U.S. state of Alaska, 76.7 percent of registered voters turned out. In the Kemerovo region of Siberia, the turnout was 71.6 percent, according to data posted on the Central Election Commission Web site.
This is the first election since the Soviet Union broke up in 1991 in which a president has openly supported a political party. Putin agreed Oct. 1 to head United Russia's list of candidates in the poll. He'd previously positioned himself above party politics, as did Yeltsin, his predecessor. When Yeltsin sought to build a pro-Kremlin party before the 1995 parliamentary contest, he put then Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin in charge of the now-defunct Our Home Is Russia.
Election Observers
The main election-monitoring arm of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the continent's leading rights and democracy watchdog, abandoned plans to monitor the vote, citing ``unprecedented restrictions.'' A 70-strong observer mission from three different European parliamentary groups is monitoring across the country.
Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. First exit polls will be published at 9 p.m. Moscow time, after voting ends in Russia's most westerly district, Kaliningrad, which is one hour behind Moscow. The Central Elections Commission says the vote should be mostly counted by 10 a.m. Moscow time tomorrow.
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