Moscow denies accusations of election fraud
Moscow has dismissed the allegations by the European observers that the vote was unfair. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was surprised that PACE and OSCE observers presented their results to the media and not to the Russian Central Election Commission
The Ministry also claims that the news conference held by the heads of the PACE and OSCE missions in Moscow started before these organisations had contacted all of their observers in the Russian regions.
Meanwhile, western powers are urging Russia to look into election day violations.
Both the U.S. and the UK say it is vital that the Russian Central Election Commission urgently investigates all allegations of electoral abuse.
Germany added its own criticism of Sunday's poll, saying it was neither a free nor democratic election.
“I deeply regret that there was no long-term OSCE election monitoring in Russia as was the case in previous years. There was only short-term monitoring by members of the parliamentary OSCE committee. So it was clear that there would be doubts as to how the election result came about. And indeed accusations have been made that the election did not happen according to OSCE principles. I expect Russia to look into all these accusations,” said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
However, the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk thinks the United Russia's win in the election is beyond doubt.
“We don’t yet know the official results of election in Russia. Yet there's no doubt that United Russia have won that vote. We are worried by reports that not everywhere was the election held according to democratic standards as we understand them in the EU. However the election confirms the very strong position that President Putin holds in the country and, despite some violations that might have occurred, it seems to be the choice of Russians. I don’t see any reason to question it,” he said.
“I believe relations between Poland and Russia can and must improve. It’s a matter of weeks or months. Let’s wait for the meeting of our Foreign Ministers, which is due on December 6 or 7 in Brussels. We’ll see then,” Tusk added.
