Russian parliamentary elections end with pro-Kremlin party´s victory

Two people cast vote at a polling station in Moscow, capital of Russia, Dec. 2, 2007. Russia held the election of the fifth State Duma (Parliament) on Sunday. (Xinhua Photo)

MOSCOW, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Preliminary results show the United Russia party, led by President Vladimir Putin, has swept majority votes in Sunday's parliamentary elections, but the Communist Party threatened to challenge the results.

The pro-Kremlin party won 62.3 percent ballots in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, authorized exit polls conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation showed.

The Central Elections Commission said the United Russia is topping the 11 parties in the race with 63.6 percent of ballots, according to 30.4 percent of counted votes till 2000 GMT.

The other parties, which have cleared the seven percent threshold to enter the parliament, include the Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) and the Fair Russia, authorized exit polls showed.

Fair Russia leader and Speaker of Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, Sergei Mironov said President Putin had congratulated United Russia on the victory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd R) walks to vote at a polling station in Moscow, capital of Russia, Dec. 2, 2007.(Xinhua Photo)

"Putin congratulated the United Russia on the victory and thanked the State Duma members for their work in the past four years. He said this work is efficient," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

"In fact, United Russia owes the large support it has gained to Vladimir Putin," he said.

Gryzlov said the United Russia will focus on eliminating poverty and raising pension in the new State Duma.

Putin, who refused to be a party member but led the United Russia in the run-on, has called on the 108 million eligible voters to cast their ballots for the party, saying the elections will set tune for next March's presidential election, when he is expected to step down due to constitutional ban on a third continuous term.

LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky has also expressed satisfaction over the initial results.

"At any rate, we are already happy that it is more than seven percent, and we were sure it would be like that. Because these are just initial figures, we are certain they will rise to 12 to 13 percent," Zhirinovsky said in an interview with national television Channel 1.

Russia's Communist party, however, has pledged to contest the results.