we very much to the left of the united russia i mean the communist with communist ideology the fair russia which is part of socialist international and the liberal democrats which is a mixture of populism and nationalism so there's nobody for you to make a coalition with oh for of course different situations there should be a coalition of course for me it would be easier to have a coalition with the liberal parties for example but the there on the whole liberal party as you are in the duma and the liberal electorate did not show up at this election to not materialize so what three percent or three quarters that we are obligated to lesser than the one percent for that for the right cause and. what we've got in this election is enormous shift like fifteen percent shift to the left which is this is what you want these exact well certainly around fifteen percent which went to the porteous which are more left wing billionaire in russia as putin explained that they cannot mix that you reach laws of the crisis because of the economic situation and because russia is a very paternalistic state russ

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 g

russia and i can tell you the results are telling saying something completely different right now a fair russia having jumped just above the united russia party the liberal democrats the lib dems currently just under twelve percent of the voters what they've got now twelve percent is an increase on two thousand and seven and two thousand and seven they picked up eight percent turning them forty seats in the duma they look set to increase that number of do miss seats but it may be at the expense of being russia's party they appear to be slightly edged out at the moment by a fair russia now the leader of the liberal democrats vladimir zhirinovsky was here just a few hours ago he said he expected the liberal democrats to take between twenty and thirty percent seems a little bit optimistic right now it certainly seems they will take around the ten percent that they usually field in these elections probably picking up a few more percentage points as i said just under twelve percent right now and picking up a few more duma seats as well but they campaigned very strongly on social issues such as alcoh

be at the expense of being russia party they appear to be slightly edged out at the moment by a fair russia but they campaigned very strongly on social issues such as alcoholism and drug abuse they also come pain strongly on immigration the liberal democrats very strongly want to impose limits on immigration into russia this is something that their campaign rhetoric did echo quite strongly now we can hear what the liberal democrats are all about. as russians pick for parliament who are the main contenders in the race for duma seats the party's ever present love them usually ne by far russia's most boisterous and controversial bully politician current campaign slogan we are for russians priorities food housing transport and science big success here in our ski poles third in russia's first presidential election critics cry over racist remarks personal violence populist slogans no no. no putting them out britain says poison dollies under litvinenko on the party list and ensuring his parliamentary protection. the liberal democratic party of russia election two thousand to eleven fund or two. hu

without swindlers and feeds priorities a welfare state free education and health care progressive tax fair russia is praised for calls to return to electing instead of appointing governors and senators criticized for new almost populist sloganeering against the power structures he was part of abroad for opposing russia's accession to the w t o tev russia election two thousand and eleven on party.

it's followed by the communists with fifty seven seats of the liberal democrats forty seats and a fair russia has thirty eight. look at those parties in detail now the ruling united russia party has a constitutional majority in the current parliament and is led by prime minister vladimir putin and with the upcoming election of president dmitry medvedev will be at the top of the party's list of candidates for the party's representation in the duma is not only made up of career politicians but celebrities as well such as one of the most decorated gymnasts of two time olympic medalist. former n.h.l. star. as well as the first man to walk in space alexei now the party's platform essentially revolves around modernizing the economy uprooting corruption and add to radicalism however united russia is also often criticized as bureaucratic inefficient and to some extent blamed for political and economic stagnation. of the second in the number of seats is the communist party headed by its own shall and. you got the communists are the biggest opposition force in the country constantly in second place and

end of the soviet union the communist party has twenty percent of the vote in russia they went to fair russia which is a patriotic conservative party and of course they went to the extreme right zhirinovsky party these three parties i think in comparison to mr putin's united russia. i would have thought pretty unwelcome in western china for it exactly and if i can go to you first and actually tell my viewers where are you have located did actually quite well it we did very well in two different. polling stations and they were in london and in washington d.c. so yeah and what do you think that says about these liberal parties because just as john laughlin pointed out united russia took a beating it's got certainly a bloody nose but those votes didn't go to. liberal parties ok again we'll have a new duma where these little parties will not be having any seats you know we have to look at these think from two perspectives from overall results of course yeah because the result is not so great but from yabloko own perspective we can just see that they are almost doubled even if not triple their is

the leftest fair russia has 12.9% of the vote. the far right liberal democratic party is last with 11.8%. putin visited his party's campaign headquarters along with president dim admit tree medvedev. >> translator: the election results reflect russia's status quo. >> translator: united russia needs to cooperate with other parties on complicated issues. >> united russia held a two-thirds majority of the 450 seats in the lower house before the election. this allowed it to change the constitution unchallenged. the results are widely seen as a precursor to the presidential election scheduled for next march. voters took their dissatisfaction to the streets. russian security forces arrested at least 170 opposition protesters. police arrested demonstrators in st. petersburg and in moscow. police had warned protesters about holding unsanctioned rallies. police moved in just as opposition supporters were about to start demonstrating. the protesters held placards criticizing the election as a farce. they want prime minister putin out. some o

will they get fifty percent the communists are in second with just slightly sort of twenty percent fair russia has a little less than thirteen percent and the liberal democrats around twelve percent according to those polls the other three parties taking part having broken the seven percent threshold it should be noted of course that around thirty percent of people refuse in fact to answer exit poll questions well we have a very special guest joining us at this hour prime minister vladimir putin's press secretary dimitri is ready to analyze some of these results are us thank you for being with us mike i said will united russia get fifty percent it looks like that's the big question what do you expect but as a matter of fact it's not it's not crucial for united russia party to get fifty percent for that's what it is important for the parties to get a result that would prove the quality of the leading political power in the country . and as soon as the party gets a majority in the parliament and as soon as the. result departed to continue its politics to continue its line for the whole country.

of the east you know a lot of the border go to communist party or to fair russia a lot of it is just broader store people do not believe that these bodies will rule them they just wanted to send a signal to an attraction and the sort of technical votes some of the votes the party that didn't make it to the demon are being reassigned to the. parties that did so how does that help things then well it's one of the paradox of people who. actually ended up supporting united russia but i don't view it as very absurd because actually they can all make suggestions of liberals are fulfilled by you like that russia at the people who advise united russia on economy all of them are diehard. economists ok to me to bob thank you very much for your insights here today on the team. well we're hoping you are to keep your finger on the pulse of developments as counting continues in the russian parliamentary elections and later in the day we expect the announcement of official preliminary results and comments from international observers well you can also track the latest figures on our web site that's

united russia or just under fifty percent of the communist party with just under twenty percent fair russia with about thirteen percent and the liberal democratic party is about eleven percent of that. proportional representation in the state duma say the number of seats of the parties will get is directly corresponds to the percentage of the national vote that's why this figure is the same potent and the election committee has actually given early results of what the seats in the dream are could be a poor proportioned like a united russia at the moment voting two hundred thirty eight seats the communist party ninety two fer russia sixty four the liberal democratic party fifty six seats in the stadium and of course the vote counting still continuing the you can see the united russia was it remains on top has lost study room majority had four hundred fifty seats in the state duma were up for grabs they don't need three hundred to have a majority they held three hundred fifteen previously you can get the figures at the moment to what they have four years ago that then they go sixty four perce

of those no surprises out of the front the communist party coming in second or third place with fair russia and fourth will be the liberal democratic party now we saw united russia failing to push past the psychological percentage barrier fifty percent that's proportional representation in the state and in terms of seats that would mean that you know to russia a looking at voting about two hundred and thirty eight feet now that joke in public supposed being seen as a reflecting a why did shift in the political mood among status in the country no hillary clinton waded into the post-election debate saying that the elections were free or fair now russia's foreign ministry has slammed the comments calling them unacceptable and called on the u.s. to look to is our intellectual system first and foremost saying that they could apply in cliches without trying to understand what's actually happening here in the country though it's worth remembering that there were seven hundred international observers to the election process now their response to the proceedings was mixed there were some claims of v

head to head with prime minister vladimir putin and another newcomer in the race leader of the fair russia party sergei moran of. thousands gather again in central moscow this time in support of the ruling united russia party follows a series of mass protests calling for a revote of sunday's parliamentary elections. talks resume on a new bailout for greece in a bid to ease its debt burden but skepticism remains over the efficacy of these rescue measures and this is cracks widening in the e.u. after a new deal to save the eurozone was spurned by britain. and in the us the occupy movement sets its sights on shutting down the west coast ports while on the other side of the country campaigners face arrest in new york its movements largest combined actions since being evicted for most of their tent camps nationwide there are to headlines up next the story of another former soviet state as are by xian to see how the countries develop since the collapse of the u.s.s.r. it's coming away in our special report stay with us. since ancient times this country has been called the land of fire there are

like united russia holding two hundred thirty eight states the communist party ninety two states fair russia sixty four seats and the liberal democratic party fifty six theses of the early results of the davis states from the russian election committee and now of course the seats in the duma work on proportional representation say there is full parties that passed the seven percent threshold needed to get the seats in the duma then the seat in the duma correspond directly to the national percentage of the vote say at the moment the percentage is standard around fifty percent for united russia twenty percent for the communist party thirteen percent the thera channel eleven percent for the liberal democrat party you can see that united russia have lost their majority that they enjoyed to stay low under fifty percent of the moment compare that to four years ago when they had sixty four percent of the vote and held three hundred and fifteen feet in the g m a they don't need a three hundred to get a majority this time four hundred fifty feet in the chamber in total already there are tools that th

but also some people who admitted that they voted for communist party of russian federation for fair russia you know the social democratic party indeed the problem is that russia has an area you know we have bodies of always your social democratic liberal the problem is that a lot of people do not believe there in your social democrats that they are real. but i'm afraid you have no people with a broad have the same problems how many english people are sure that they have the labor party is indeed social democratic. not mean well i mean that's another debate in itself is that these parliamentary election results united russia as you've been saying has lost a huge number of votes and even the president has a message is going to have to make deals with other parties in order to make decisions how likely do you think it is that this result will actually affect the way the parliament here in russia in the country that's to run well certainly there will be a lot of changes in the government and the world of changes among the governess because president many beautiful already said yesterday that i

outcome states be united russia those no surprises are leading second place was the communist party fair russia in third place and the liberal democratic party in full there was it was no surprise that united russia came out ahead it was surprising to see the outcome of the results they failed to. break through that psychological barrier fifty. representation in the so what that means in terms of. looking to hold around two hundred and thirty eight seventy seven. back in two thousand and seven and there is so public support. by many people why do we have. here in the country. ok thank you sarah first reporting from us. well we're closely following the aftermath of sunday's elections on the protests that have been taking place in the russia's capital as we've heard you tube channel has lined up the latest videos of what's happening also find updates on our web site r.t. dot com while you're there you can tell us what you think about the protests in russia. there's a time between those who say it means nothing it's just a few dissatisfied people just on the third also see it as a big protest next

been surges when it comes some of the opposition of congress party you know it's to send seeks fair russia they've increased their stranglehold vastly there beforehand they're seen as an outsider party now the third largest faction in the duma there's going to be problems for you know it's russia in the future parliamentary session based on these results they could face problems passing future legislation key constitutional. you need one hundred fifty seats when it comes to opposition members to block that they now possess two hundred of the so if they cannot so gather it may be a big if but if they can act together they have the power to block close to sure for. ok take a recess very much indeed for keeping us up to date and we're also keeping a close on developments in the russian capital on our web site r.t. dot com so you can go online for the latest updates and video feed on the post-election protests also at r.t. dot com you'll find analysis of the latest news and scandals that followed the election and for all the videos of the demonstrations you can log on to our you tube channel.

surprises that you know each of us has come out in front of the communist party in second place a fair russia taking their place and the liberal democratic process. in full now what it wasn't a surprise that united russia came out front what was surprising with the figure is they failed to break through that psychological percentage barrier fifty percent now the state duma works on proportional representation say how that percentage translates into seats in the dream is going to look like united russia will hold about two hundred thirty eight seats not seventy seven less the than they were in the back in two thousand and seven it means they've lost their teeth they called the majority party her united russia saying that they gave to be looking to work much more closely with the opposition parties that are going fast to be making compromises to get more of a decision because the public's the board's i've reflected in the result seen by many as reflecting a wiser political shift amongst the meat of voters here in the country. ok thank you sara for three porting from moscow there thank you. let'

like united russia will hold two hundred thirty eight seats the communist party ninety two seats fair russia sixty fools the and the liberal democratic party fifty six seats now the commission also said that the mind of violations during the election process president medvedev had already said that all the claims of violations are going to be fully investigated now of course those claims of fraud and vote rigging during the election process is books this international debate we've seen a number of international voices indeed wading into that argument now prime minister putin has slammed the u.s. for interfering in russia's internal affairs he will say criticize hillary clinton and the keys to encouraging the opposition for claiming that the votes were rigged before she had any of the official information regarding the election process yeah i mean that of this movement should come out about legal documents exposing washington's role in the election process produce up to speed on what we know. well that involves the supposedly independent russian watchdog olaus. confidential e-mails that were

maybe united russia just under fifty percent still the communist party just under twenty percent fair russia at thirteen percent and the liberal democratic party at eleven percent now they say it is changing all the time as the final counting continues we can see though of course that was united russia is leading has lost a full majority compare the figures now with four years ago when they'd enjoyed a sixty four percent of the values i know a lot of speculation of course as to the reasons behind the loss of public support but some people who are into the criticisms that the party have come under in recent times that failure to curb corruption and the economic and political stagnation the president medvedev still say said that the economic situation could be affecting his mate but he still feels that united russia against be able to provide stable development for the country. to see has a full fairly well the policy represents almost fifty percent of the population and this is the result of a democratic process but taking into account the more complex making the parliament have to form coali

faired russia two legend two thousand eleven on forty. authorities say that egypt's first round of elections seen at the highest turnout ever but the results are delayed with forecasts suggesting the islamists so winning . the u.n. condemned as human rights violations in syria or the rush of votes against the resolution saying the motion is one sided and will only aggravate the conflict. and a legal loophole in the u.k. is being used as a shield for convicted immigrant criminals saving them from deportation and turning britain into a safe haven for serious offenders from abroad. a very warm welcome to you this is a live from moscow with me. officials say turnout for the opening round of parliamentary elections has been the highest in the country since the time of the favors the official results are still being delayed but predictions give the lead to the islamist muslim brotherhood party or two more election stages are to be held in january as. reports. well we're hearing from the military council record results will be announced today sa

presidential elections and that of course is the premise of much of it within and at the head of the fair russia party now michel crawford of did not specify what exactly is going to be on the he's election campaign he said everything that he has to say he will state in due time so we have just to wait and see in order to find out exactly because progress has in store. all right saudis are going to go there live in the central moscow thank you. for more on the story now that's a talk to alexander about the director of the russia and eurasia program of the german council on foreign relations thank you for coming on the program today so how does a male profit off announcement today actually change the color of the upcoming election. let's see how serious this announcement is because of the. amount of force i mean he's a party he needs in the moment he has the money to. conduct the campaign with. the people who will hope for him. oh i don't think he's quite right. liberals are looking for a united leader. and the presidential elections i think they have a small chance no rather. than before two to

presidential elections and that of course is the premise of us were put in and at the head of the fair russia party now michel profit of did not specify what exactly is going to be on the heels election campaign he said everything that he has to say he will state in due time to the announcement that we will run for presidential term has made it into the twitters our worldwide top trends so that is quite an accomplishment already so we have just to wait and see in order to find out exactly because progress has in store. martin mccauley a russia specialist at the university of london believes pocket of his candidacy has introduced some fresh blood to the springtime race for the country's top job. it makes it more interesting because he's a very good mathematician these are finance he's a businessman he's a sports personality he's internationalist so therefore he's a name that people would recognize and he would bring some. youthful vigor if you like to the proceedings one would expect him to articulate some views from a purely economic point of view we haven't much experience of politics but yo

are coming in second place with just slightly over twenty percent with the liberal democrats and fair russia both having around thirteen percent now according to the data the other three parties taking part haven't broken the seven percent threshold that is needed to get seats in the russian state duma and we continue to monitor the situation and developments live from our special studio here in moscow join us for extended coverage of the election at the top of the next hour right here on r.t. . come back to our studio here in central moscow let's turn to some news that shaped the past seven days in our weekly update and the latest news from around the world but of course is and he says we will 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 downed with minimum damage and seized by iranian authorities american radio host and independent blogger steven lemmon has told me that these tactics are nothing new fr

communist party with around twenty percent it's been quite stable in the last hours it's followed by fair russia party and liberal democrats each with just under thirteen percent as we can see just to remind you to get into the new dumas which is the activists here for the first time ever for five years not full fall as before a party has to gain the least seventy percent of those parties that is for parties i've just mentioned to pass these seven percent barrier three others did not and their votes will eventually be divided among those four leading part is that means that eventually they will get bonus extra votes. so we understand the process of vote counting continues but can you tell us what are the service saying about how the election went. well several parties rival parties have been reporting this several violations violations during this election but it hasn't been confirmed by official by special observers just remind you how to say that seven hundred international observers and five hundred thousand russian observers have been more literary and this is election and we have been able

parliamentary majority by the united russia party six will be led by the currency's communist party ends a fair russia and liberal democrats will get to have four committees each now after the elections a on december the fourth there's been a number of speculations over elections being forced to fight and unfair and violations taking place in moscow some twenty thousand people took to the streets gathered for a peaceful demonstration one of central squares over moscow saying that the results of elections were falsified pulling the president with that if ordered as torah investigation into the case and that has some fifty permanent cases were filed voting results of twenty one polling stations were a council overview take a look at the bigger picture of course out of tens of thousands of polling stations throughout the country twenty one is a relatively slow small number so the results over the elections are valid to say do what is going to stay in the shape it was formed on the fourth of december. or untie thanks so much indeed for bringing us to something time al gore recording from central moscow. w

losing a big share of its previous popular support the communists is second in the race through fair russia or belittle democrats also making it to parliament. as global players meet to decide the future of afghanistan and pakistan whose role is key this debility in the region boycotts me in bed it's the latest sign of his love of bad relations with washington taking a turn for the worse following nato the recent deadly air raid on a pakistani port of poti. a moscow downgrades diplomatic ties with catarrh after the russian ambassador to the country's assaulted by airport security proclaimed the instant could be linked to moscow's position on syria. will stay with that story to international pressure mounts on syria artes of abene talks to one of britain's foremost journalists next jonathan steele of the guardian newspaper to get his thoughts on possible solutions for the country's political crisis right now . i'm joined by jonathan steele former chief correspondent of the guardian newspaper and now a commentator on international affairs jonathan thanks for speaking to r.t. europe now the u.

majority the united russia party six by the country's communist party and the liberal democrats and fair russia will gets to have sure you meet each of them since the election day on december the fourth there's been a number of debates about the outcome of this parliamentary election and the opposition rallies to places most go along some twenty thousand people gathered for a peaceful demonstration against the outcome of their parliamentary election claiming a number of violations to place during the electorate process following which president david have ordered a thorough investigation the air into the case and the voting results of twenty one polling stations have been counseled but of course out of tens of thousands of polling stations throughout the country twenty one is too small of a number to cancel the results of the parliamentary elections so the lower house of the russian parliament this they do weighs going to stay in the way it was shaved on december the fourth. until you know with her reporting there and as natalia mentioned we'll be bringing you updates on how the first day of th

russian voters the communists are in second with just slightly short of twenty percent coming next is fair russia with a little less than thirteen percent number four is the liberal democratic party which has one of around twelve percent well according to the polls we are the parties haven't broken the seven percent threshold needed and among the outsiders are the three outsiders are right cause and patrick russia. more. so they were still being counted when the stand about was the observer saying about how the election went all in all the year they have been indeed a lot of observers watching these parliamentary elections in russia some half a million observers from russia and seven hundred observers from international organizations and from what we've heard from the observers we've spoken to here at the central election committee mosco and from what we've read about the back of the service elsewhere is that generally the election has been very transparent and in fact if there's a quote from for example many. column and. the harm of romney braced on palm mentally praise the parliamentary electio