11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

United Russia party received two-thirds constitutional majority in December Duma elections; total of 4 parties exceeded 7 percent threshold for gaining seats in Duma ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 22625]

"In December, Russia held elections for the State Duma in which the United Russia party received a two-thirds constitutional majority, and a total of four parties exceeded the seven percent threshold for gaining seats in the Duma. International observers concluded that the elections were not fair and failed to meet standards for democratic elections. After the Central Election Commission placed delays and unprecedented restrictions on the number of international observers, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) decided it was not able to send an observer mission. A team of parliamentarians from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, and the Nordic Council observed the elections. The teams concluded that the elections were "not fair and failed to meet many OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections." They noted that the elections took place in an atmosphere which seriously limited political competition. Frequent abuses of administrative resources, media coverage strongly in favor of United Russia, and the revised election code combined to hinder political pluralism. (…)

The December State Duma elections were marked with apparent fraud in many of the North Caucasus republics and other regions. In the 2005 election, the Council of Europe alleged that the official voter turnout numbers were artificially high and this trend reportedly continued in 2007 elections. Chechnya reported 99.5 percent voter turnout, with 99.5 percent of the votes going to the United Russia party; Ingushetiya reported 98.3 percent voter turnout, with 98.8 percent of the votes for United Russia; and Kabardino-Balkaria reported 97 percent turnout, with 96.5 percent of the votes for United Russia. In Ingushetia, with 159,000 registered voters, a protest movement called "I did not vote" collected 87,340 signatures from registered voters who said that they had not voted in the December elections. (…)

As of October, according to the Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov, three of the 14 parties wanting to run in the December State Duma elections were disqualified based on alleged problems with their registration documents."

Document(s): Open document

04.12.2007 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Preliminary official results of 2 December Duma elections give victory to pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party with 64 percent of vote; party will get about 310 seats in 450-seat lower chamber ("Russia shifts from 'managed democracy' to 'manual control'") [ID 22380]

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03.12.2007 - Source: Guardian

International monitors describe parliamentary elections as 'not fair'; no Western-orientated reform parties in parliament; pro-presidential Unified Russia takes 70 percent of seats ("Putin's Russian election win: It's not fair, say observers") [ID 22379]

Document(s): Open document

24.11.2007 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Moscow: Police breaks up anti-government demonstration, detains several protesters, including Garry Kasparov and other opposition activists ("Police Disperse Opposition Rally") [ID 21718]

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10.11.2007 - Source: Guardian

Head of the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly Luc van den Brande unhappy with Kremlin's TV coverage on opposition parties; entry threshold for parliament of 7 percent considered too high; only 11 out of 85 parties admitted to elections; call for more international observers ("European election observer attacks Russian poll rules") [ID 21722]

Document(s): Open document

01.11.2007 - Source: Guardian

Russia accused of imposing unprecedented restrictions on foreign observers; concerns grow that Kremlin might manipulate vote ("Anger as Putin restricts election observers") [ID 21471]

Document(s): Open document

02.12.2006 - Source: Directory of Development Organizations

Moscow has refused to give visas to election observers of OSCE; therefore, the organisation will not be sending observers to cover parliamentary elections ("Directory of Development Organizations; Edition 2007; Volume III.A; Europe; Belarus") [ID 21720]

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