Though United Russia, which now has a commanding majority in Parliament, faces no powerful competitors in the election, opinion polls suggest that it will lose 50 to 60 seats, reflecting growing weariness with leadership that has not changed in a decade. State officials at all levels have been told to guard against significant losses.
With parliamentary elections only days away that are expected to reflect dwindling public support for Vladimir V. Putin’s party, Russian prosecutors have opened a case against the country’s only independent election monitoring organization.
The organization, Golos, has already posted reports of more than 4,500 violations of election law in the prelude to the voting on Sunday. Golos receives financing from Western governments, including the United States, and some Russian officials have suggested that the organization’s real aim is to incite an Arab Spring-type revolution in Russia.
