Thousands protest Russian election

[ellisonz]

Source: LA Times

By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times
December 5, 2011, 6:00 p.m.
Reporting from Moscow—

Thousands of Russians took to the streets here Monday to voice their anger at polling irregularities they fear will allow the ruling party to maintain control of parliament's lower house, despite a relatively weak showing in elections Sunday.

Accusations of ballot stuffing and voter fraud were voiced by the demonstrators as well as international observers, on a day when election officials said preliminary results could give the United Russia party of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev 238 seats in the 450-seat State Duma, with over 49% of the vote. In 2007, the party won 64% of the vote.

"A thief breaks in our home and tells us to go on watching television while he is robbing us out of our possessions!" said liberal blogger Alexei Navalny, addressing a crowd of mostly young people who came out despite drizzling skies.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday in Bonn, Germany, where she was attending a conference on Afghanistan, that "Russian voters deserve a full investigation of all credible reports of electoral fraud and manipulation."


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-russia-election-protest-20111206,0,4837064.story

[Lars77]

1. BBC: Hundreds rally against Putin in Moscow

Several thousand people have taken to the streets of Moscow shouting "Down with Putin" as international observers in Russia's parliamentary elections speak of flagrant violations.

Some scuffles were reported and Russian police said they had detained more than 300 protesters.

The OSCE says the vote was slanted in favour of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia.

President Dmitry Medvedev insisted the election had been fair and democratic.

[Lars77]

2. This could not happen at a better time

Arab spring, occupy movements all over the world.

Could this be the beginning of the end?

[Liberty Belle]

3. Did they use electronic voting machines?

Or optical scanners? These things are all so easily manipulated.

[ellisonz]

4. Seems more like old fashioned ballot box stuffing...

http://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/vote-rigging-in-russia-reports-from-the-field/