Kremlin-backed candidates swept parliamentary elections in Chechnya, officials announced Monday, November 28, as European observers cast doubts over the vote. Results from 171 of the 430 polling centers showed the pro-Kremlin United Russia party taking about 60 percent of the vote, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). The communists were in second place with around 12 percent of the vote followed by the liberal Union of Right Forces who scored around 10.5 percent, according to the preliminary results announced by Ismail Baikhanov, chairman of the province's election commission. Other Russian political parties, including the liberal Yabloko party led by reformer economist Grigory Yavlinsky and the ultranationalist Rodina party, picked up under five percent apiece. Authorities said turnout was above 66 percent of the approximately 600,000 registered voters.