Shenanigans Reported in Region Races

More reports of vote fraud surfaced Monday as the results of some 4,100 local and regional elections from Sunday were announced, most of them bringing victory to United Russia.

United Russia candidates won four of the six mayoral elections: Gorno-Altaisk, Yakutsk, Astrakhan and Arkhangelsk, Vedomosti reported Monday.

Just Russia rejected the results of the mayoral vote in Astrakhan. At a news conference, party leader Sergei Mironov alleged "gross violations" after polling stations closed and the party's observers were expelled, Interfax reported.

Astrakhan's acting mayor, United Russia member Mikhail Stolyarov, won about 60 percent of the vote.

Former State Duma Deputy Oleg Shein, the Just Russia candidate, finished second with about 30 percent of the vote, Interfax reported.

In Arkhangelsk, people conducting exit polls at several polling stations were approached by young men who pushed the pollsters into a car and tried to snatch preliminary results from their hands, regional news site Ekho Severa reported Sunday.

The city's acting mayor, United Russia member Viktor Pavlyuchenko, won 50.09 percent of the vote, followed by A Just Russia candidate Vasily Badanin with 22.6 percent, Vedomosti reported.

In Yakutsk, police detained a man who tried to cast numerous ballots for an unidentified candidate, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported Sunday.

In the two other mayoral votes, a Communist Party candidate won in Naryan-Mar, while in Yaroslavl two independent candidates will compete in a runoff, Vedomosti reported.

Muscovites elected deputies to all 125 district councils. Many candidates concealed their membership in United Russia and ran as independents.

Their victories were secured by subordinates working at the elections commissions, Vedomosti reported Friday, citing an opposition lawyer and an opposition candidate.

Gorno-Altaisk, Ufa, Nalchik, Kirov, Omsk and Pskov elected deputies to city legislatures, according to the Central Elections Commission's website.

In Ufa, the regional supreme court had denied registration to candidates of A Just Russia for seats on the 10-member municipal council, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported Friday.

In Kirov, an observer told the local edition of the Komsomolskaya Pravda Sunday newspaper that an unidentified young man gave voting instructions to elderly women, promising to pay for their votes in the City Duma election.