GROZNY, November 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's ruling party, United Russia, has increased its substantial lead in the parliamentary elections in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya with votes from 237 of 430 polling stations counted as of 9 a.m. GMT Monday, the local election commission chairman said Monday.
Ismail Baikhanov said that, according to preliminary results from Sunday's poll, United Russia had already taken 61.45% of the party list vote for the 58-seat bicameral parliament, while the Communist Party of the Russian Federation came in second place with 12% of the vote and the Union of Right Forces (SPS) in third place with 10.9%.
The Eurasian Union party gained 4.2% of the vote, Yabloko 3.3%, Rodina (Motherland) 2.7%, the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) 1.6%, and the People's Will party 1.2%.
The elections will see 58 deputies garner seats, including those on party lists and in single-member constituencies. The lower chamber of the republic's parliament, the Popular Assembly, will have 40 deputies and the upper chamber, the Republic's Council, will have 18.
