Russians vote in election test for Vladimir Putin

Andrew Lubimov / AP

Russian navy sailors queue to cast their ballots at a polling station at the Russian Fleet base during a parliamentary elections, in Sevastopol, Ukraine, Dec. 4.

msnbc.com news services report:

Some voters expressed disgust with a poll they thought likely to be rigged.

A number of pro-democracy protesters were arrested at an unsanctioned rally held by the Left Front opposition group in downtown Moscow Sunday. One man held up a banner reading "I didn't vote."

Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister when Putin was president, said he and other opposition activists who voted Sunday were under no illusion that their votes will be counted fairly.

"It is absolutely clear there will be no real count," he said. "The authorities created an imitation of a very important institution whose name is free election, that is not free and is not elections."

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Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters

Electoral officials walk to houses during the parliamentary election, in the western Russian village of Gryaz, Dec. 4. Vladimir Putin's ruling party could see its vast parliamentary majority cut back on Sunday in elections widely seen as a test of his popularity ahead of an expected return to the presidency early next year.

Sergei Grits / AP

Elizaveta Semenova is helped by her daughter to fill in a ballot at her home in the village of Oster, Russia, Dec. 4. The ballot box has a sign reading: "Election" and the Smolensk region emblem. Russians cast their ballots with muted enthusiasm in national parliamentary elections Sunday, a vote that opinion polls indicate could water down the strength of the party led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, despite the government's relentless marginalization of opposition groups.

Reuters

Police detain an activist during a protest rally by opposition group "Another Russia" in central Moscow, Dec. 4. Russians voted on Sunday in parliamentary polls seen as a test of Vladimir Putin's personal authority ahead of a planned return to the presidency, and an electoral watchdog complained of "massive cyber attacks" on a website alleging violations.

Ivan Sekretarev / AP

Russian police officers block Red Square, with St. Basil's Cathedral in the background, to prevent pro-democracy protesters from entering, in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 4.