By DPA
Washington : The US has called on Russia to investigate accusations of voting irregularities in parliamentary elections Sunday that were dominated by President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.
United Russia won more than 60 percent of the votes in elections for Russia’s lower house of parliament, according to preliminary results. The only opposition party to pass the 7-per-cent threshold needed to enter the Duma was the Communist Party.
“Early reports from Russia include allegations of election day violations. We urge Russian authorities to investigate these claims,” said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman of the National Security Council.
Johndroe also referred to pre-election concerns expressed by the White House of the “intimidation” of opposition leaders and “lack of equal opportunity encountered by opposition candidates and parties”.
“We also regret that limitations Russia imposed on election monitors prevented OSCE’s ODIHR from fielding an election monitoring mission.”
The OSCE’s election arm boycotted Sunday’s poll, citing difficulties in obtaining visas for observers and other obstacles.