voting in russia's parliamentary election is over the united russia party so far is falling short of fifty percent of the vote but president dmitri medvedev said the party is ready to form a coalition and other political forces have also expressed their willingness to do so we are bringing you special coverage. also iran's military forces say they have shot down an unmanned u.s. drone in the east of the country according to a state news agency. and in a round up the week's top headlines the u.n. human rights commission calls for international intervention in syria but russia and china voted against the resolution saying foreign meddling will only cause more

bloodshed. it's midnight in moscow you're watching r t live from the russian capital with me built on. straight to our extensive coverage of russia's parliamentary election here on. a special studio in central moscow is from where we are following the developments closely and my colleague and he said now he's there and he said. thank you bill indeed rose from all over russia are being counted as we speak the preliminary results do so that united russia is leading the vote but has less than fifty

percent so far and what appears to be a significant drop in popularity is being published live out the central election committee in artistic after dinner graphed rove is there and joins us with an update concept bring us up on the latest numbers hello and is some of the latest as of now midnight time after a thirty eight point six percent of the votes have been counted here at the preliminary results of the ruling united russia is leading with forty eight point seven percent of the vote almost four million people gave their voices to the largest party of the russian federation coming in second are the communists they are just slightly short of twenty percent slightly declining from the figure off the previous hour the liberal democrats have won around twelve point seven percent and that is less than half our russian party which has overcome the liberal democrats with thirteen point one percent of the votes now according to the latest results as you see only four parties so far have secured seats in the newly elected

palm and newly elected state duma the lower house of the russian parliament the three other parties taking part in the vote haven't broken the seven percent threshold need it now russia uses a quarter least proportional representation system in the duma elections all in all four hundred fifty seats are at stake and to be eligible for any suits at all a party needs to take at least seven percent of the vote and then if it breaks the better it to get the number of seats proportionate to the number of votes one now this is also the first time that the state duma is being elected for a five year term previously devotees were elected for four years only now four years four parties again have made it to the newly elected state duma as of now meade night moscow time but of course both are still being counted and will take a. parties have shared throughout the night we'll be bringing you the latest from the central election committee in downtown most of this stuff. we will indeed

because i didn't bring us up to date on the latest figures there and we will continue like you said to bring you those numbers live with our special coverage throughout the night let's check in with our team is daniel bushell he is that united russia party headquarters they are of course leading but many wondering daniel if united russia will take half of the vote there just hovering at forty eight percent as we speak of course that a significant drop in their numbers from the two thousand and seven elections what did they say about their showing in this year's polls with these results so far as the reaction here of the united russia's chairman said it all when asked his reaction to the slump in the party's share of the vote he shrugged refused to answer angrily in is really mirrored on the faces officials here of united russia who say that really they're very disappointed by what has happened disappointed not just the boy the fact that it's voted down on four years ago but also down on their

expectations for today it sends the message really loud and clear that voters want reforms they want the changes that will promise boy to me to madrid if i'm glad to be a putin coming up to these elections really both to make sure that if i'm going to be a putin spoke all through the voting ended here you know to russia headquarters. said that the economic situation throughout the world as it is mirrored here in russia is to blame partly for the polls showing he warned russia does need a powerful ruling party in order to be able to govern effectively let's have a listen to exactly what he had to say. to this person because i saw earlier well the party represents almost fifty percent of the population and this is the result of the democratic process the taking into account of the. thanks mate and the comments should somehow to flood coalitions with us policies of the various issues and this is what power limit is in democracies all the bounty that you and i need

is of other things said that they're ready for the. poets who will now it looks like i have to go in coalition with some of the polity it will be the liberal democrats who tend to vote with the government imposed we wait to see how this news situation will develop for us sure it certainly is a surprising because many expected the voting public to hear you not to rush to do so. they did indeed and of course still not clear whether or not they will reach fifty percent artist daniel bushell reporting live from united russia headquarters let's check in at the liberal democrats headquarters they have course are fighting for third place at thirteen percent along with fare ross artie's peter oliver is monitoring the situation there peter what's happening at the headquarters are the party members reacting to the emerging results and how are they reacting in fact of course. well it's certainly a mood of quiet confidence here at lib dem headquarters i was speaking to

representatives of the party earlier on they were saying that they hoped to take a lot of seats from united russia from voters that perhaps voted united russia in the past but now wanted a bit of change were going to the lib dems were looking to grab them in now this is being shown in the the polling that we've seen so far look at the last time in two thousand and seven the last parliamentary election the lib dems picked up around eight percent of the vote picking up forty seats in the state duma now this time we're seeing them around the thirteen percent mark so a five percent increase but then i think they have been hoping hoping that they would have seen more of an increased seems fair russia have taken away some of the votes that perhaps they were hoping to pick up but in regions in siberia in the far east of russia it seems that the liberal democrats have been polling very well in some areas as high as twenty percent now at the well always colorful often cause russia the tricky part the lib dems vladimir zhirinovsky said he was speaking

earlier on to journalists he said that. he hoped this party could pick up around twenty percent across the whole of the country now that seems a little optimistic at the minute around thirteen percent is what we're seeing the lib dems have frequently called themselves the only right party the only politically right party in russia now they campaigned strongly on social issues on issues of alcoholism and drug abuse was sometimes quite graphic polling. advertising to get their point across now they pick up most of their base from young disenfranchised sometimes unemployed men in very rural areas and they seem to have come out and voted to get voted for the lib dems not why they've seen increases in areas of the far east and in siberia now. said that he wanted thirty percent doesn't seem. he's coming to get us we can have a look now at what the lib dems are all about. as russians pick for parliament

who are the main contenders in the race for duma seats the party's ever present leader. by far russia's most boisterous and controversial bully politician current campaign slogan we are for russians priorities food housing transport and science biggest success here in ne post third in russia's first presidential election critics cry over racist remarks personal violence and populist slogans. for putting them out britain says poison doll xander litvinenko on the party list and ensuring his parliamentary protection. the liberal democratic party of russia election two thousand and eleven r.t. . over out of michigan office he's often been accused of putting polemic before policies and he was speaking to journalists he certainly didn't pull any

punches with his comments over these elections he accused fair russia of being the most corrupt party in the country and also suggested that the finger of blame could be pointed at the media saying that united russia had been shown many more times on television over the last four years than the lib dems he also suggested that the liberal democrats had the youngest base the youngest political base of any party in modern party politics so he's always good for a remark to the journalists pointing the finger of blame at this time right point i figure at fair russia like you said it looks like they are taking some of the votes from the liberal democrats again just preliminary results coming in here all over live from the lib dems headquarters thanks for that. now over a hundred people have been arrested in moscow as political organizations both pro-government and opposition trying to stage rallies on election day or days jacob grief has the latest from central moscow but as you said actually these opposition

protests or be somewhat lost on the ground that's right in nature throughout the course of the day there will be more individuals than say parties of movements as such no less the less drugs were detained it's just behind me outside of the credible zone manners square a few of the numbers to tell you by police this is a police tactic we've seen used throughout the whole day where one number of them are linking arms across the with over there and making sure really having them in a funneling these protesters towards the area that they want them mainly metro station this is after nine o'clock or nine o'clock or so it's the end of the day or scientist period not alone for electioneering protests to take place but here it is then this because the poll stations have no close around russia. where russian journalists in iran is a source if you gave us his views earlier on why there is a significant drop in the party support since the previous election. it looked as

if the big three in the bag so they couldn't really mobilize enough support. they have it already so i think that's why a lot of people chose to vote for fair or even for liberal democrats because i think a lot of people wanted to punish. the united russia for having power for so long and they would be you know doing everything they could this is one of the reasons why we will have a different but but my point my point of view is that they will make you to present to the political campaign for you and i think justice would have been about repressions on corruptions and other charges because they're not running the party they're running the state so people in russia very critical of the state and there are very vocal russian journalist there iran as

a source giving us his views on why he thinks united russia popularity has dropped at least according to these preliminary results let's bring you up to date on the latest numbers with thirty percent of the votes counted there showing united russia leading with forty nine percent of the vote the communist look to be in second place with just about twenty percent liberal democrats in fair russia both have around thirteen percent looks like they're going to be very close third place there and according to data the other three parties that were taking part seven in total haven't broken the seven percent threshold needed to get seats in the state duma but we continue to monitor everything here on election day all the numbers and figures coming in it will bring you all the latest results from the central election committee in the next hour so stay with us here on r.t. .

for nearly forty minutes past the hour here in the russian capital let's turn to some news that shaped the past seven days in our weekly update and also the latest news from around the world and of course and he says we'll continue our special election coverage throughout the evening iranian forces have shot down an american unmanned drone in the east of the country that's according to iran's state news agency the aircraft used for spying was reportedly done with little damage and seized by iranian authorities want to discuss the tense situation around the islamic republic i'm now joined live from london by author and journalist afshin rattansi so iran says this american are manned aircraft intruded on its territory the question is what was it looking for. exactly inevitably in the other way around i just wonder if we americans would have seen an iranian drone flying over of the united states have the americans would have reacted as an r.q.

one seventy advanced stealth reconnaissance drone which what i'm hearing. said they lost it over afghanistan last week others are saying the iranians must be busily looking at this drone and what a great way of. creating technology transfer this is an incredibly serious event and it's of course against international law the united states yet again breaking international law with these drones you see this is provocative towards iran it's already threatened reprisal obviously not just shooting this drone down but also the reprise will not be limited to their country's borders what should we read into that. i think. iran has been looking to allies in the region and gosh it has a lot of allies if you think of that pakistan won't even be at the bomb conference of afghanistan and. the iranians iran has never been less isolated arguably and if if well over here in london we were hearing all week about

the diplomatic nonsense over the exchange of investors and so forth so i think iran is keeping it. close to close to its chest but certainly the media are talking all about war yes well i mean could this perhaps be the build up to some sort of military strike with what we're seeing there with this constant struggle we rein in foreign ministry of course saying that oil would spike to two hundred fifty dollars a barrel should there be any intervention the fact that obama thinks that he can send drones over rain in a space and whilst at the same time blaming the iranian government which did apologize for the demonstrators in tehran attacking the british embassy shows how out of touch the u.s. state department and embassies and diplomatic staff and state department of foreign ministries in european capitals really are if they think that getting out of the economic crisis in europe in america keynesian militarism is the way forward i

think they obviously don't really understand quite how powerful iran has become through the arab awakening and through other huge geopolitical changes over the past twelve months is the agenda here not really them behind the concerns about the possible nuclear weapon iran could be developing more on looking at regime change there. it's interesting that even some neo conservatives are criticizing obama saying while we're talking about nuclear facilities iran is thinking about a much bigger game and this is really about influence within the into a region egypt is a big loss to the united states after the fall of the u.s. back to day to mubarak so from the atlantic to the indian oceans and of course even greece backing some oil sanctions against syria against iran you know this is

a case of the western media feeding loads of people the idea that these countries are isolated when in fact the world is now changing and drone strikes drones like this. events like this. hopefully will change u.s. policy as they start to get to grips with what a world would be like favoring thought of any kind of attack either their proxy government in israel or from the united states in diego garcia if iran was to be more cooperative because it's accuse of course of not being cooperative and many have a different view on that over the i.a.e.a. in its religious reports do you think that perhaps this situation the the tense pressure now that it's experiencing will perhaps diffuse if it does allow inspectors in to be more transparent in what its plans are for its nuclear development. well i think the i mean they're really discredited i have to say i'm not iranian but i lived in tehran i visited their embassy the british embassy once

and when you're actually in iran you realize how on isolated the country is and the way the media treats the situation is kind of absurd the world is changing looking towards other super the developing world and i think what's really happening here is. as. those countries that have been running the world they're losing their power and this is their last attempt at trying to keep some element of their. it's not the way the narrative. in the media is in fact your experience of iran then just in what way will the people suffer from the latest round of sanctions. i think people. really suffer because other countries all trade with iran but i do think that iran's population seventy five million people when they hear the kinds of threats from people like the british foreign

secretary william hague who spoke here in parliament the other day when they clinton talking about all options on the table they don't. like it and one manifestation was what we saw as the attack on the british embassy in tehran. people they may be looking to their leaders in iran and thinking iran isn't taking a step as they may do and certainly the announcement in the past few hours that iran may be exploring space outside of its borders because of these kinds of attacks is a. significant development what about this publication can be seen obviously that iran is facing the sanctions and of course the accusations about its nuclear program in what way could this perhaps bring support to the regime something that probably the west is aiming for the opposite to happen who could actually ahmadinejad's win support from his people as a result of this external rhetoric and pressure. and also one mustn't forget that

those disenfranchised in the global south see countries like iran like venezuela and let alone their support in terms of the new super powers like china and brazil. as a change in. evolution as it were and therefore all those people from the atlantic to the indian oceans there will be at the ready and certainly some people already drawing about the kinds of plans that people they are any in government may not be in touch with but who seek to defend the rainy and sovereignty even though they're not connected with iran because it really is the war of the global south against against us shouldn't always interesting to hear your point of view thank you for your time we really appreciate you joining us live in london afshin rattansi thank you. syria has reportedly accepted the arab league's plan to send

a mission of foreign observers into the country this comes in the wake of sustained foreign pressure in damascus with the un's high commissioner for human rights calling for international intervention navi pillay said that four thousand people including over three hundred children been killed since the crackdown against demonstrations began almost nine months ago and warned of civil war however syria's ambassador to the u.n. said the solution to the crisis cannot come from abroad solution it could have paved the way for international military intervention in syria was blocked by russia and china lucia professor at the university in jordan has told me that he believes any foreign involvement will only be to more violence in the country. the arab league has basically said that if syria doesn't accept this plan then this what paves the way for an international intervention in the way that the arab league paved the way for an international intervention and libya and we know what happened so i think syria has grudgingly accept that those terms but that does not

necessarily mean that the crisis in syria will be a result i think the solution is going to create a bigger problem because it's going to encourage more and more attacks on the regime and it's going to cause more violence within syria for speaking place now is in fact an attempt by the arab league to be used by the united states and nato against one of the few remaining states and the arab world that say no the united states influence. police in iraq give a rest to more than a dozen occupy protesters shutting down their camp in the u.s. city of portland police found overnight stays of homes with tents have been set up but some activists refused to go demonstrations accuse offices of using tough tactics against a peaceful rally pushing people to the ground teenage protest acclaims an officer hit him in the face with a right state police action ten was part of a wave to dismantle occupy headquarters across the u.s.

in the past few weeks. portnoy reports the movement's message is beginning to resonate even with those whose job it is to control its. own streets occupy wall street has become an undeniable american household name oh so was all that and police crackdowns against the democratic movement have become something of the norm not so normal is seeing one side endorse the other. retired philadelphia police captain graeme lewis became the game changer on november seventeenth arrested mall demonstrating the occupy protesters on the streets of new york city the twenty four year veteran of this how did police custody for eleven hours and received one comment from a new york cop nobody this one individual said that i had the testicles of an elephant although all of america's police force is part of the ninety nine percent captain lewis says cops secretly supporting w.-s.

face dire consequences by going public tremendous fear of losing their job being disciplined being fired and then what do they do everybody. here and police officers also they cannot risk they have children. what would they do. jobs available in the nighttime raid on zuccotti park and subsequent arrest of dozens of journalists covering the story are among many reasons captain lewis says he temporarily transplanted to manhattan that's. when you exclude the media. that's what they're around the world and that is very scary scary such as pepper for the time and laughing the banisters has been used against occupy camp for the last oakland california resembles something of an urban war zone this fall leaving a war vet in critical condition and the eyes of an eighty four year old burning from tear gas oakland police officer fred chavez is the only active cop who's gone

on record with his support but totally agree with occupy wall street even to understand what i am a part of the ninety nine percent but most people are peaceful and i want to see change many believe the biggest change could calm when or if us law enforcement officials stop suppressing the right to assemble and begin supporting it despite his arrest captain lewis is back at zuccotti park showing unwavering support for the occupy movement standing roughly ten or fifteen feet away from him a group of new york city police officers yes there we are securing the area but some are beginning to show a little interest for the first time i had an officer break ranks yesterday. a white officer named officer and introduced himself and if you question i said do you know the risk you're taking and he was so brave they said this is still america

and until a supervisor ordered me back to the line i'm going to talk with you i hope to get mainstream america involved the players involved realizing that world of corporate america and america has got to be stopped. r.t. new york. twenty seven minutes. in the russian capital that brings you up to date for the moment stay with us for the headlines coming up shortly and also a continued special coverage of the parliamentary election here in russia.

i had to go through ten year old boy. to train him out of jail we as

officers developed the orders for them to. we never explained to them why it's ok. most people at the point of looking down in time to pull the trigger became conscientious objectors. and i don't remember squeezing the trigger i don't remember seeing him go down when i remembers that we shot at him. and saw. on the other side are soldiers to unsolder do it so they're trying to kill us we're trying to. that's just the ugly face of war. nothing honorable and. i went to the war zone and i started to.