RUSSIA

Stuff.nz: Putin party heads for triumph

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin's allies are heading for overwhelming
electoral victory, crushing communist and liberal opponents in a parliamentary poll that could change the political landscape of Russia. The Communist Party called the polls a farce and accused the Kremlin of
fraud. Liberal party leaders, facing political oblivion, said the vote
concentrated too much power in the hands of the pro-Kremlin United
Russia and of nationalists. "We will have an entirely different political
picture in Russia," said Boris Nemtsov, whose pro-business Union of Right-Wing
Forces (SPS) may scrape only a few seats in the Duma lower house.