Russia's ruling party wary as nation votes

Russians cast their ballots with muted enthusiasm in national parliamentary elections Sunday; a vote that opinion polls indicate could water down the strength of the party led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, despite the government's relentless marginalization of opposition groups.       

Although Putin and his United Russia party have dominated Russian politics for more than a decade, popular discontent appears to be growing with Putin's strongman style, widespread corruption among officials and the gap between ordinary Russians and the country's floridly super-rich.       

United Russia holds a two-thirds majority in the outgoing State Duma. But a survey last month by the independent Levada Center polling agency indicated the party could get only about 53 percent of the vote in this election, depriving it of the number of seats necessary to change the constitution unchallenged.           

Putin last Sunday accused Western governments of trying to influence the election. Golos is funded by grants from the United States and Europe.       

The group has compiled some 5,300 complaints of election-law violations ahead of the vote. Most are linked to United Russia. Roughly a third of the complainants  mostly government employees and students  say employers and professors are pressuring them to vote for the party.