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Russian ruling party may cancel primaries' results over violations

The results in a number of constituencies will be canceled if reports on the use of administrative resource are confirmed

© Kirill Kukhmar/TASS

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. The ruling United Russia party which primaries to select candidates for elections to the 450-seat State Duma lower house of parliament on Sunday may cancel polling results in a number of constituencies if reports on the use of administrative resource prove to be true, secretary of the United Russia’s General Council Sergey Neverov, said on Monday.

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"If any abuses during the campaign linked with the use of the administrative resource are revealed at any of the polling station, polling results at the stations may be cancelled, moreover, voting results may be annulled at entire constituencies," he said at a news conference at TASS.

However, according to Neverov, the party sees no grounds to cancel voting results in any of the constituencies, although "certain complaints do exist." "We will scrutinize these complaints. We will never allow any administrative pressure within the campaign," he stressed.

United Russia held primaries across Russia on Sunday to select its nominees for candidates running for parliamentary seats at the forthcoming elections. Participation in such primaries is mandatory for its candidates. More than 2,780 candidates took part in the polls. According to the latest updates, more than ten million voters took part in the voting. The turnout was about 9.5%

The voting results will be materialized in a list of the party candidates to run for parliament seat in one-seat constituencies and regional party tickets of the most popular candidates. The lists will be endorsed at a party congress in June. Preliminary results of the polls will be announced by May 27.

On Sunday, Neverov said that the federal and regional organizational committees received more than 420 complaints of violations during the voting.

Elections to the 450-seat Russian State Duma will be held on September 18 under a mixed system: 225 lawmakers will be elected in one-seat constituencies and another 225 will be elected by party tickets.

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