Pro-Kremlin parties sweep Russian local polls

MOSCOW, Oct 9 (Reuters) Parties supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin won nearly two-thirds of the vote in a string of local polls, early election returns showed today.

Russian news agencies quoted the central electoral commission as saying the main pro-Putin party, United Russia, would win 54 per cent of seats contested yesterday in nine regions from the Finnish border to the Pacific coast.

''United Russia has improved its standings in all the regions compared to 2003,'' Alexander Ivanchenko, head of the Independent Elections Institute think-tank said.

The elections also contained a novelty: for the first time, a second pro-Kremlin collection of parties was running with Putin's blessing in an attempt to add some variety to politics ahead of national parliamentary elections next year.

Analysts viewed yesterday's polls would test whether the three parties -- the Party of Life, Pensioners Party and Motherland -- could form a second successful pro-government bloc.

Electoral commission figures showed the three together won slightly more than 11 per cent of seats, more than the nearly 7 per cent taken by the Communist Party -- a traditional number two political force and a genuine opposition party.

The remaining seats go to smaller opposition parties or will be contested in run-off votes.

''The future bloc appears as number two or number three, which is a good result,'' Ivanchenko said, adding that it owed much of its success to the Kremlin support, rather than to any popularity of its own.

This time the three parties ran separately but they have announced plans to unite at the end of this month.

United Russia, a key instrument of Putin's concentration of political power, has more than two-thirds of seats in the State Duma or lower house of parliament.

But as the 2007 parliamentary and 2008 presidential polls near, even some Putin allies appear worried its unchallenged domination could create problems for a new president.

Under Putin, who came to power in 2000 and remains Russia's most popular politician, opposition parties have shrivelled and most democratic institutions came under tough Kremlin control.

Analysts say the emergence of a second Kremlin-backed force will produce civilised rivalry between Kremlin clans, rather than any genuine choice.

They say United Russia is close to Dmitry Medvedev, a first deputy prime minister who is widely seen as a candidate to succeed Putin. The new pro-Kremlin force is linked with Igor Sechin, a Putin aide who leads a rival Kremlin faction.

''Of course it is not a democracy,'' Dmitry Oreshkin, head of the Mercator think-tank, said ahead of polls. ''But the new situation creates at least some competition.'' REUTERS DKB KN2135