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Elections Body Says 90% of Complaints Unfounded

More than 90 percent of reported violations during Oct. 10 regional and municipal elections were unfounded, the Central Elections Commission said Thursday.

"As of Oct. 14, the Central Elections Commission has received and considered 551 complaints, while violations were only confirmed in 46 of the complaints," said commission deputy head Stanislav Vavilov, Interfax reported.

The largest number of complaints came from the Samara region, with 98, he said. Only two of them were confirmed.

The city of Samara had been the only regional capital without a mayor from Untied Russia. The party's candidate, Dmitry Azarov, won by a landslide, with 67 percent, to oust the Just Russia incumbent, Viktor Tarkhov, who had just 18 percent.

About 20 percent of the complaints nationwide were filed by political parties, with the largest number coming from the pro-Kremlin Just Russia, with 44. The Liberal Democratic Party was next, with 37 complaints, followed by the Communists, who filed 22.

The ruling United Russia party, which swept the elections, did not file a single complaint, Vavilov told a meeting of the Central Elections Commission.

The majority of the complaints were related to campaigning, including dirty tricks "taken second-hand from the 1990s," he said.

Earlier this month, President Dmitry Medvedev met with the commission's head, Vladimir Churov, and ordered him to deal with all violations.

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