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Communists Won't Appeal State Duma Results

The Communist Party said Monday that it would not contest last December's parliamentary election results.

"We actually prepared a lawsuit to the Supreme Court, but having weighed everything, we decided not to file it this time," Ivan Melnikov, head of the party's campaign office, told RIA-Novosti.

Melnikov recalled that the Communists had appealed the State Duma election results in 2003 and 2007.

"But neither in those years, nor especially now do we have any illusions with regards to the prospects of a fair court case," Melnikov said.

Meanwhile, Communist Party boss Gennady Zyuganov on Monday became head of a new political movement called "Russky Lad" (Russian Accord), which his party sees as a response to Vladimir Putin's All-Russia People's Front, news reports said.

Vladimir Nikitin, chair of Russky Lad's coordination committee, told participants at the movement's founding congress held outside Moscow that members would resist the "occupation" of Russia by foreign capital, which he called a "Western yoke."

The new movement's size and structure were not discussed at the congress, according to the Lenta.ru news portal.

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