Piece of cake! Russia's President Vladimir Putin stands by a salad bar at a Moscow restaurant after voting yesterday. - Reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters):

President Vladimir Putin's party won a large majority in Russia's election yesterday, but opposition parties cried foul and vowed to contest results which the Kremlin hailed as a big endorsement for Putin.

Preliminary official results showed United Russia winning over 60 per cent of the vote - an outcome likely to be seen by the Kremlin as a strong mandate for Putin to maintain a position of influence after his final presidential term ends next year.

Widespread ballot fraud

Election monitors reported widespread cases of ballot fraud, and the Communist Party, which is likely to be the biggest opposition force in the next Parliament, said it would contest the election in the courts.

Boris Nemtsov, whose small Union of Right-wing Forces opposition party fell short of the seven per cent hurdle needed to qualify for seats in Parliament, said: "I have been in politics for 20 years and these are the most dishonest elections in the history of modern Russia."

According to state-sponsored pollster VTSIOM's calculations, the vote would give pro-Kremlin parties 348 seats in Parliament - far more than the 301 needed to change the constitution. This was something analysts say was a key Kremlin target in the election.

Vladimir Putin:	Born in October 1952, in St. Petersburg, then called Leningrad.
	Former KGB spy in East Germany, chosen as PM by the late President Boris Yeltsin in August 1999.
Elected president in March 2000.
Has overseen a steady concentration of power within the Kremlin walls, sidelining the political opposition and imposing tight control on the media.
	Has played to his power base in the security forces and military by using barrack-room language and by fostering a tough-guy image. Before the poll, he told Western governments to keep their "snotty noses" out of Russia's affairs.
Crushed the Chechen rebel lion for now, though sporadic attacks continue on Russian forces.
	Has presided over significant rise in living standards, but large sections of the population still live in poverty.
Described the demise of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century". More International Print this Page Letters to the Editor Most Popular Stories