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Preliminary Election Results Comply With Recent Opinion Polls - Human Rights Activist

MOSCOW. Dec 3 (Interfax) - Alexander Brod, director of the Moscow Human Rights Bureau and co-chairman of the Civil Control association, does not share the opinion of some observers that there were serious violations at the State Duma elections.

"In general the elections were successful, and their results are legitimate," Brod told Interfax on Sunday evening.

"According to preliminary results, the elections showed real attitude of public. Preliminary results comply with ratings compiled by sociological agencies in the past several months. This means that elections results reflect real voters' preferences," Brod said.

"I do not share the opinion of some colleagues who state that the situation with violations has been disastrous. (The Communist Party) KPRF has claimed it registered 10,000 electoral violations, and the Golos association has spoken about 3,000 instances of electoral violations. However, I think that one should be objective. There were not any serious violation," the human rights activist said.

"In general I would like to note that voters have become more active and that the role of civil society has grown. This is a good sign," he said.

The Civil Control association has received over 100 reports from its regional representatives, who attracted attention to possible violations.

"Illegal agitation was underway, observers' access to polling stations was restricted, it was prohibited to shoot photo and video materials, and there were 'dead souls' in voters lists in a number of regions. The Civil Control association is going to summarize all complaints from citizens, party observers, and journalists received in December 2 and to forward them for a check to the Central Elections Commission (CEC) and prosecutor's offices," Brod said.

However, "international observers made no remarks as to serious violations on the elections day," Brod said.

Meanwhile, leaders of leading Russia's public organizations think that serious violations admitted at the State Duma elections.

"Unprecedented pressure and unprecedented violations of legislation is one of the features of the electoral campaign," leader of the For Human Rights movement Lev Ponomaryov said.

"There were more than enough violations during the election campaign. The parties did not have equal agitation opportunities," head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alexeyeva said.

"It is bad that Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces (SPS) will not be represented in the new State Duma. If all political ideologies that exist in the country are not represented in legislatures and executive agencies, it is bad not only for democracy and civil society, but also for authorities," Alexeyeva said.