Manchester MP Lloyd-Serious and persistent fraud reported in Russian elections

Manchester Central MP Tony Lloyd who is currently in Russia as an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitoring the current Parliamentary Assembly elections has described the election results as a serious blow to Vladimir Putin and those who operate with him.

Writing on his blog,Lloyd says that he saw a ballot box which had been left unsealed allowing votes to be added and removed without altering the total.

"Local observers had tried to get this fixed without success until International Observers – my Danish colleague and I insisted. The local official was very anxious we saw this as “just an oversight”.

Putin's party United Russia won the election with just under 50% of the vote, a sharp drop in its support.

Correspondents say the result reflects Mr Putin's declining popularity ahead of his bid for the Russian presidency in March.

Lloyd also adds that:

Elsewhere a police officer tried to stop us entering a polling station and asked us to go to the police station to confirm our status. I refused and in this case the local polling official was helpful and we were able to observe. Another colleague was physically prevented from entering the place where local results were totalled to give the regional totals and where fraud is very possible. In the end by complaining loudly and to the higher authorities, he was allowed in.

My turn now yours

No surprises then as Vladimir Putin accepts Dmitry Medvedev's proposal to run for the presidency of Russia in 2012.

The announcement will not have provided any shocks in Russia's murky political world.The consensus was always that Medvedev was simply keeping the seat warm for his boss whilst forced to stand aside in 2008 after standing for the maximum of eight years.

The two have a stranglehold on the country’s politics and it is highly unlikely that next year's election will throw up a credible alternative to the regime.

Whilst Medvedev has been the liberal, progressive face of the Russian government over the past four years,the return of Putin to the top job may well see the country taking a more nationalistic line.

The change in constitution in the country which extends the presidential term to six years could see Putin remain in power until 2024.

When Ronny met Vlady

The Economist has unearthed a photo that suggests that a younger version of Vladimir Putin may have met Ronald Reagan during the latter's meet the people walk in Red Square.

Photo credit-the Reagan picture library

Medvedev is sexed up

As Dmitry Medvedev assumes the Russian presidency and Vladimir Putin continues to exert his influence on the direction of Russian politics

The Moscow Times carries a rather humerous report that

someone seems to be trying to turn Dmitry Medvedev into a sex symbol.
In a clip that has been drawing attention on the Internet, a curvy young brunette declares her love and passion for the recently inaugurated president, in a dubbed and altered version of a prank video originally focusing on U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The video opens with

a then-candidate Medvedev promising a United Russia party congress that he would cooperate with former-President Vladimir Putin and, if elected, be true to Putin's policies.
But the busty young woman in the video — clad in a tight T-shirt with a Medvedev portrait that does a fair bit of moving around, is devoted only to the new president.
"You came into politics together with Putin," she sings breathlessly (and obviously dubbed) in Russian, while staring longingly at the new leader. "I didn't want anyone else as much as I want you. … I need to be sexy and cool with you. I've got a crush on a bear."