Vladivostok (Russia): Russians today began voting in a parliamentary election set to hand President Vladimir Putin's party a huge majority and reinforce his campaign to retain authority after leaving the Kremlin. Three months of campaigning were overshadowed by accusations from Putin's opponents that blanket media coverage and vast government resources had been employed to ensure a victory for the pro-Kremlin party United Russia.

As its lead candidate, Putin has said a convincing victory for United Russia would give him a "moral mandate" to influence the government once he steps down after presidential polls in March next year.

The first voters trickled into Polling Station Number 32 in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at 0130 IST today on a freezing, dark morning on Russia's Pacific coast, an AFP reporter said. Eleven time zones to the west, the last polling stations were to close at 2330 IST in the Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad. Opinion polls predicted United Russia would win at least 62 per cent of the vote, securing them a large majority of the 450-seat lower house, the State Duma, with the Communist Party trailing far behind with some 12 per cent.

"I believe in Putin, he's made our lives better," said pensioner Galina Nikolayeva after voting for United Russia. "I d like Putin to remain president, but if he's part of United Russia he can still do something for us." With their domination of the legislature all but guaranteed, United Russia cast the elections as a referendum on Putin's rule, saying that a vote for the party would safeguard the country's oil-driven economic boom and stability.

Source : PTI