Police on Friday detained about 10 people protesting alleged fraud in local elections across Russia and prevented them from delivering a petition to the presidential administration.
Friday's small protest was led by marginalized Kremlin critics, but it followed a rare display of rebellion in Russia's Kremlin-controlled parliament. Dozens of lawmakers on Wednesday walked out in protest over the elections, which left their parties without representation in many local legislatures, including the Moscow city council.
Independent election observers and opposition parties insist there were mass violations during voting Sunday in roughly 7,000 districts across the country. The Kremlin-favored United Russia — the party of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — was the overwhelming victor.
President Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday's elections were conducted in compliance with the law and showed the authority United Russia had gained nationwide. Medvedev has sometimes spoken out in support of a more competitive political system, but critics said the local elections showed those are empty words.
"The elections were absolutely dishonest," said Sergei Udaltsov, a vocal Kremlin critic and leader of a left-wing movement, who led Friday's protest in central Moscow.
Udaltsov accused authorities of ballot stuffing and abusing the absentee voting system.
Moments later, police violently hauled Udaltsov away as he began collecting signatures for a petition calling for the election results to be scrapped. Other supporters were also detained, shouting "Disgrace!" as they grappled with police.
The controversy over the election has had broad resonance in Russia, where political life is tightly controlled. Some observers have even questioned whether the parliament walkout was independent.
Two of the three parties that staged the walkout — the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and center-left Just Russia — returned to parliament on Friday. Only the Communists have refused to come back before a promised meeting with Medvedev.
United Russia, which dominates the parliament and can easily pass legislation in the absence of the Communists, is a power base for Putin, who was president for eight years until 2008 and has not ruled out running again in 2012.
Source: AP News
