Shaun Walker: Putin's Poll Setback amid claims of Electoral Fraud!

Despite widespread reports of electoral fraud, Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party failed to secure the resounding victory it had hoped for in yesterday's parliamentary elections, early results indicated. With 40 percent of the votes counted, Russia's Central Election Committee said that United Russia had received just under 50 per cent in elections that were seen as a test of popularity ahead of a presidential vote next March, when Mr Putin intends to return to the Kremlin, after a four-year stint as Prime Minister. Official exit polls gave similar results. Despite endless positive media coverage on state-controlled television, reports of ballot stuffing and multiple voting, and pressure on public sector workers to vote for United Russia, the party's support dropped significantly from the 64 per cent it received in 2007. "It's a total disaster for the party in power," said political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky, shortly after the first exit polls were announced. Reports of foul play, designed to boost results for Mr Putin's party were widespread. Golos, the country's only independent election monitoring organization, kept a spreadsheet with thousands of violations across the country.