President Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia, won 64.1 percent of votes in the elections to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, the latest official figure show.

 

 

The results were announced by the Central Elections Commission at 10:00 Moscow time (0700 GMT) Monday when 97.8 percent of ballots have been counted.

 

The other parties to have cleared the 7-percent threshold to gain seats in parliament include the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) and the Fair Russia party.

 

Opposition of both political flanks have threatened to challenge the results, mulling to nominate a single candidate for next March's presidential elections.

 

The Union of Right Forces (SPS) is considering the possibility of filing a lawsuit jointly with the Yabloko and Communist parties to challenge the results of the State Duma elections, SPS lawyer Vadim Prokhorov told reporters at the SPS headquarters on Monday.

 

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd R) walks to vote at a polling station in Moscow, capital of Russia, Dec. 2, 2007.

 

 

A total of 11 parties have taken part in the elections with more than 4,000 candidates racing for the 450 seats.

 

The elections started at 2000 GMT Saturday and ended at 1800 GMT Sunday on the Russia territory which spans over 11 time zones. Eligible voters totaled 108 million and the turnout exceeded 60 percent.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2007)