If confirmed, the result is a considerable blow to Putin because the election was widely seen as a test of his personal authority before his planned return to the presidency next year Putin is still almost certain to win the March 4 presidential election and could extend his rule until 2024 if he wins the maximum two more terms.
The result was also a blow for President Dmitry Medvedev, who is standing down to allow Putin to resume the presidency he ceded to him in 2008.
Medvedev, who would take over the prime minister's office from Putin next year, had led the election campaign. His position could now be in question "Massive cyber attacks are taking place on the sites of Golos and the map showing violations," Golos said on Twitter.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who is stepping aside next year so that Putin can return to the presidency, has dismissed talk of electoral fraud "I shall not vote.
I shall cross out all the parties on the list and write: 'Down with the party of swindlers and thieves,'" said Nikolai Markovtsev, an independent deputy in the Vladivostok city legislature on the Pacific seaboard.
PROTEST - Previously more than 100 opposition protesters were arrested in Moscow andSt. Petersburg to about 70 after attempting to keep events not organized, according topolice sources. In the morning, a dozen activists of the Left Front were arrested near theRed Square in the capital, after trying to hold a protest, immediately dispersed by police.
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