Four
parties have got parliamentary seats in the state Duma. Opposition leaders
accused the authorities of unfair treatment. United Russia will have
constitutional majority, taking 310-315 seats in the new Parliament. The
opposition Communists has got about 60 seats, while Liberal Democratic party
and Fair Russia were poised to win 40-45 seats. The Communists defined the
elections as fraud and organized street protests. The leader Zyuganov predicts
that over 7 million people will take part in the protests. Announcements for
protests have been handed in all over the country. The Communists
have said they will mount a legal challenge to the result, and will decide
shortly whether to boycott the new parliament. The “Rightists Union”, “Yabloco” and “Civil force” also
promised to join them and defined these elections as the fakest ones ever
since. They have got 3.5% of the votes, which makes them the outsiders of the
elections. The Liberal Democratic leader Zhirinovski, however, is fairly happy
with the results, achieved by his party, which will fill the gap in the
constructive opposition. “The time of revolutions is over”, stated Zhirinovski.
So
far the President Putin has not made any public announcement, although he has
been expected in the party’s main office. His escort has been seen in the early
morning hours in the streets of Moscow but it still remains unclear where
actually he has been between 3 and 5 AM.
The
party, as expected, considers the referendum on Putin’s policy for an event
passed. 17th December the
party congress is meant to raise a candidate for the Presidential elections.
Later today, at a press conference the European observers will draw certain
conclusions about the elections. The OSCE had abandoned its plans to send a large
team of monitors, accusing Moscow of imposing curbs and delaying visas. The USA invited Russia to immediately investigate
the signals for violations.
