United Russia leads in Chechnya elections

GROZNY, November 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's ruling party, United Russia, has taken a substantial lead in the parliamentary elections in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya with votes from 128 of 430 polling stations counted as of 3 a.m. GMT Monday, the local election commission chairman said.

Ismail Baikhanov said that according to preliminary results from Sunday's poll for the 58-seat bicameral parliament, the party had already taken 59.4% of vote, while the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was in second place with 12.8% of the vote, and the Union of Right Forces (SPS) was third with 10.4%.

The Eurasian Union party gained 5.4% of the vote, Yabloko 3.9%, the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) 2.4%, Rodina (Motherland) 2.2%, and the People's Will party 1.5%.

In all, 58 deputies are to be elected, including 20 on party lists and 38 in single-member constituencies. The lower chamber of the republic's parliament, the Popular Assembly, will have 40 deputies and the upper chamber, the Republic's Council, 18 deputies.