Millions of Russians went to the polls on Sunday to vote in regional elections seen as a popularity test for the ruling United Russia party amid rising unemployment and housing and utilities prices.
Polls opened on Sunday morning for about 32 million Russians to vote in the elections to local authorities held in 76 out of 83 Russian regions.
Residents in the Khabarovsk Territory in the Russian Far East, the Republic of Altai and the Kurgan Region in south Siberia, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area in northwest Siberia, the Sverdlovsk Region in the Urals, the Ryazan and Kaluga Regions in central Russia and the Voronezh Region in southwest Russia are electing regional legislatures.
The pro-Kremlin United Russia party, the opposition A Just Russia party, Liberal Democrats and Communists, all of which have factions in Russia's lower house of parliaments, are participating in the parliamentary elections in all the eight regions.
They are also being challenged by the liberal opposition party Right Cause in the Voronezh and Ryazan Regions, Russia's Patriots party in the Ryazan and Kaluga Regions and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area.
The parties have to clear the 7% threshold to be elected to regional legislatures, with the exception of the Republic of Altai where the threshold is 5%.
At last year's regional elections held on October 11, opposition parties claimed electoral fraud after the ruling United Russia party won by a landslide, following which Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the country needed tighter supervision to ensure fair voting.
MOSCOW, March 14 (RIA Novosti)
