Russian president defends recent elections

The Russian president on Saturday defended recent local elections that drew fraud allegations, inspired an opposition walkout of parliament and strengthened the Kremlin's grip on power

Dmitry Medvedev told leaders of the Communists and other opposition parties that the vote was well organized and seemed to dismiss allegations of vote rigging.

He said he wasn't surprised that opinions differed on the fairness of the vote because winners generally accept them. He said there were legal procedures for challenging election results.

During a meeting at Medvedev's residence with the leaders of the Communists and other opposition parties with seats in parliament, the president joked that he had worn black because he feared his guests expected "a burial of democracy."

"I agreed to meet with you and discuss the outcomes of the elections to local legislatures and local self-government bodies so that this all should not turn into a burial of democracy and the electoral system here," Medvedev said in comments televised after the meeting.

The vote was "organized well enough," he said. "There are different assessments (of the outcome) among parliamentary parties, but that's easily understood, because, as a rule, those who win treat the results as positive."

He reminded opposition leaders that there were legal procedures for challenging election results.

On Oct. 11 the Kremlin-backed United Russia party swept more than 7,000 local elections in 75 of Russia's 83 regions. Some prominent members of the opposition charged the vote was rigged.

In an interview published Monday, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev denounced the elections as mockery of democracy. He told a liberal opposition newspaper that the vote had discredited Russia's political system.

On Thursday about 1,500 supporters of the Communists and other parties staged a protest in Moscow against alleged vote rigging.

Opposition deputies conducted a brief walk out of Russia's Duma, or parliament, on Oct. 14, the first such demonstration in nearly a decade.

The Communists and other opposition parties with legislative seats generally vote with the government, support its major initiatives and offer only muted criticism of the Kremlin.

Leaders of Russia's Western-style liberal democrats have complained of being squeezed out of elective office entirely in recent years.

They charge that the Kremlin has excluded them from most ballots through restrictive rules, election commission decisions and court rulings.

When they have been allowed to campaign, they say, they face official pressure and negative or non-existent coverage by the state-controlled media.

Despite the walkout and criticism, the fraud allegations have not so far inspired general public anger.