MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. The results of Russia’s parliamentary elections may be canceled in three ballot stations, Central Election Commission (CEC) head Ella Pamfilova said on Monday announcing the preliminary outcome.
This concerns ballot station 2211 in the Nizhny Novgorod region and ballot station 1958 in the Rostov region, she said.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into ballot box stuffing during Sunday’s elections.
A woman, who is a secretary of a district election commission, stuffed a ballot box during the elections, Ella Pamfilova said announcing the preliminary results of the vote. "An investigation is underway," she added.
A source in the Rostov region’s law enforcement agencies earlier said that police were investigating the second similar incident with the ballot box stuffing at the elections in Rostov-on-Don.
Ella Pamfilova pointed out that she was ready to meet with party leaders to discuss concrete facts of violations. The CEC is interested in suppressing any breaches, Pamfilova stressed, adding that the commission would discuss only "concrete facts."
United Russia wins
According to preliminary results of the Central Election Commission (CEC), the United Russia is going to get 343 mandates for 76.22% of seats in the 7th State Duma
The United Russia will receive a total of 343 mandates (76.22% of seats), the Communist Party (CPRF) gained 42 mandates (9.34%), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) - 39 mandates (8.67%), A Just Russia - 23 mandates (5.11%), Rodina, Civic Platform (Grazhdanskaya Platforma) and independent Vladislav Reznik - gained one mandate each.
The ruling United Russia party is winning the elections to the State Duma on party lists with 54.28% of the votes after 93.06% of ballots counted.
The Communist Party comes second with 13.45% of the votes, and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) is in the third place with 13.24% of the votes. A Just Russian party gained 6.17% of the votes.
According to preliminary results, the voter turnout at the election stands at 47.18%. A total of 264,000 observers monitored the elections. Pamfilova said, however, that some regions, including Moscow, have not presented data on observers as of yet.
"Out of the declared 310,000 observers, there were in effect 264,000 at the polling stations," she said, noting that besides there were some 151,000 members of commissions with no right to vote as well as some 10,000 media personnel at the polling stations.
Pamfilova noted that no major changes were expected in the results of the voting.
"Of course, there can be some minor changes in the results, but on the whole the CEC believes that no major changes are expected. In fact, the results are rather clear and definitive," she said.
Elections to the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, were held on September 18 in a split system: 225 members of parliament were elected by party tickets, while the other 225 - in one-seat constituencies.
No minimal turnout was required.
Fourteen parties were on the election ballot: the United Russia party, the Communist Party of Russia, the Liberal Democratic Party, A Just Russia party, Russia’s Patriots, Civil Platform, the Green party, the Party of Growth, Parnas, Civil Power, Russia’s Communists, Yabloko, Rodina (Motherland) and the Russian Party of Pensioners for Justice. Parties have to pass the five-percent electoral threshold to receive any seats in the Duma.