Putin's United Russia party suffers at the polls

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party will presumably suffer a major loss in the parliamentary elections.

96 per cent of the votes have been counted so far. Electoral officials said the party had less than 50 per cent. This will most likely result in United Russia loosing its two-thirds majority in the Duma.

The vote is seen as a popularity test for Mr. Putin who plans to run for presidency in March.

Opposition parties have complained of violations of election laws. Golos is Russia’s only independent monitoring group. It says 5,300 complaints have been logged regarding these allegations. An opposition demonstration was held in Moscow on Sunday. Police say over 100 people were arrested.