Poll: Most Russians do not believe in fair rivalry in State Duma election
Moscow, September 15 (Interfax) - Only 31% of Russians expect a genuine rivalry for State Duma seats in December 2011, while 54% believe the election will be simulated and the authorities will divide parliament seats between parties, Levada Center told Interfax on Tuesday, commenting on an August poll.
Fifty percent of the respondents said that 'dirty technologies' would be used in the December elections (such as slander, pressure on voters and ballot juggling), and only 32% expect a fair and lawful election.
Sixty percent say that the parliamentary election is a fight of bureaucratic clans for access to the state budget.
The respondents said that the election violations might include pressure of the local authorities on voters (26%), 'dirty technologies' such as compromising materials and so on (22%), bribery of voters (21%), the media's biased coverage of the election campaign (19%), manipulations with ballot papers at polling stations (19%) and so on.
Fourteen percent said they did not expect any violations.
Sixty-two percent said that all the manipulations and ballot juggling would be done in the interest of the ruling party.
As for the media coverage of the election campaign, 50% said that the media did nothing but confused them and hampered the making of decisions or that they ignored the election coverage at all.
Thirty-four percent argued that the media drew public attention to the upcoming election and helped them understand the election situation and choose a candidate.
Eleven percent said they did not care about politics at all.
Levada center polled 1,600 adults in 130 towns and cities in 45 regions on Aug. 19-23. The error does not exceed 3.4%.
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