RIA Novosti : Most Russians Satisfied With September Polls, Say Results Fair

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, September 25, 2013) ­ Nearly half of Russians believe that the recent regional elections were fair and are pleased with the results, the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) said.

About 7,000 elections of various types, in which over 40 million of Russians were entitled to vote, were held across 80 Russian regions on September 8. Ten constituent members of the Russian Federation, including Moscow and the Moscow Region, chose their leaders.

A survey, released on Tuesday, shows that 48 percent of respondents from regions where the polls took place, are convinced that the vote was fair and transparent. In a similar survey held after the 2012 presidential election only 37 percent of respondents said they trusted the results.

Nineteen percent of respondents doubted the fairness of the September polls, compared to 24 percent last year. 26 percent said that although minor violations were possibly committed, they did not affect the overall results.

A total of 44 percent of Russians said they were pleased with the results of the September 8 elections. Only six percent said they were “absolutely unsatisfied.”

Nearly half of all respondents said they ignored the vote, 39 percent of them said they saw no sense in voting.

The survey was conducted on September 14-15 among 1,600 respondents in 130 Russian regions. The margin of error is below 3.4 percent.