International election observers on Monday criticized Russia's presidential election for falling short of basic democratic standards, even as President Vladimir Putin accepted congratulatory telephone calls from presidents and prime ministers of the world's leading democracies.
The observers -- representing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe -- cited abuses of government resources, bias in the state news media and even instances of ballot stuffing on election day.
"The election process overall did not adequately reflect principles necessary for a healthy democratic election process," the head of the observer mission, Julian Peel Yates, said at a news conference. "Essential elements of the OSCE commitments and Council of Europe standards for democratic elections, such as a vibrant political discourse and meaningful pluralism, were lacking."
Putin swept to an entirely expected victory on Sunday, receiving 72.1 percent of the vote, after a campaign that featured overwhelming support of the incumbent from local governments and the state-controlled news media.
Nikolai Kharitonov, representing the Communist Party, came in a distant second with just under 14 percent, election officials said after most of the votes had been counted. The rest of the field failed to break out of single digits.
Putin, appearing at his campaign headquarters in the wee hours after the polls closed on Sunday night, gently brushed aside criticism raised earlier by Secretary of State Colin Powell and the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.
While no one called Putin's victory fraudulent, given his obvious popularity, the observers and his challengers cited biased news media coverage and favoritism from election officials.
The report cited at least two instances of outright falsification of votes at polling stations in Moscow and Khabarovsk, but Yates declined to comment on the effect any of the reported abuses might have had on the outcome.
The Moscow Times quoted election officials in Grozny as acknowledging that they had filled in several thousand ballots for Putin.
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