From The BBC News

Foreign observers have said that Russia’s parliamentary election, won by President Vladimir Putin’s party, was “not fair”.

The statement was made by a joint observer team of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe.

With nearly 98% of ballots counted, Mr Putin’s United Russia had 64.1% of Sunday’s vote.

Mr Putin said the poll was “legitimate” and a vote of public trust in him.

The election showed that Russians would not allow their nation to develop along a “destructive path” as had happened in several former Soviet countries, Mr Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Opposition claims of fraud have been rejected by Russia’s electoral commission.

‘Not a level playing field’

The election “was not fair and failed to meet many OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections,” the observers from the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly told a news conference in Moscow.

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