Controversy surrounds the vote for city governor that resulted in a victory for an unpopular acquaintance of President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...The post is equivalent to that of mayor in other cities.
On Sunday, Russia’s second city also elected municipal deputies but five days later authorities have not yet completed the vote count.
Putin’s front man Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the Kremlin was unaware of "any situations that may somehow cast doubt on the election in Saint Petersburg."
He dismissed possible irregularities as minor "hiccups" and said the Central Election Commission was looking into them.
Asked if the Kremlin considered the continuing vote count in Putin’s hometown acceptable, Peskov referred questions to election officials.
Opposition figures and observers have repeatedly complained about what they describe as egregious violations including alleged instances of ballot stuffing and vote-buying.
They claim that officials have been re-counting votes in precincts won by the opposition in favor of the ruling party United Russia.
"They are stealing the vote from us, they are re-writing protocols," charged Andrei Pivovarov, a coordinator for the United Democrats, a coalition of independent candidates.
"I don’t know whether you can use the word ’hiccups’ to describe what is regulated by the Criminal Code," he told AFP.
"What’s happening now ‐ the falsification of the elections ‐ is a crime."