Russia elections will have alternate count

MOSCOW, March 2 (UPI) -- The Communist Party joined two other movements to perform a separate vote count of Sunday's presidential elections in Russia, a party member said.

Lawmaker Yuri Afonin, secretary of the Communist Party's central committee, said the party will work with the anti-corruption Rosvybory project and the League of Voters in the counting, RIA Novosti reported.

Afonin said the Communist Party would set up a vote-count network based on a system it used in the Dec. 4 parliamentary elections narrowly won by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party.

Putin is expected to handily win a third term as president.

"We expect that on the night of voting at least 70 percent of protocols from polling stations will be downloaded into the system ..., " Afonin said.

In some regions, he said, the party would be "able to do this even faster" than Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov.

The Communist Party said it would send 304,000 observers and election commission members to polling stations throughout Russia, including about 10,000 in Moscow and surrounding areas.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged voters to participate in the presidential elections, noting that the process has become more civil as the country has matured, ITAR-Tass reported.

"It means our citizens realize that our future depends on the elections and are ready to bear their share of responsibility for our country, and the results of the political reform proposed by me in the address to the Federal Assembly will allow our people to more actively participate in the governing of the state," Medvedev said.