Russian watchdog says presidential election was 'far short of constitutional standards'

March 18 (UPI) -- Russian election watchdog, the Golos Movement, said the nation's three-day election that saw Vladimir Putin elected to a new six-year term did not meet the standards of its constitution.

Russia's recent election that saw President Vladimir Putin secure another six-year term, is being condemned as unfair and fraudulent, according to the Russian Golos Movement.

Golos claimed Monday it received 156 hotline calls and 341 messages relating to election fraud during the final day of the election on Sunday.

It also claims other digital channels have received over 1,600 reports of election violations.

The organization was established in 2000 to protect the rights of citizens and election integrity.

The group's violation map lists Moscow and St. Petersburg as the two top locations for reported violations.

"Never before have we seen a presidential [election] campaign that fell so far short of constitutional standards," the organization said in a statement on its website.

International leaders have also been critical of the election, which the Kremlin reported had record high voter turnout and saw Putin capture 87.28% of the vote on the way to his fifth term leading the country.

"The polls have closed in Russia, following the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE monitoring," British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on X.

"This is not what free and fair elections look like."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz referred to the results as "predetermined."

The United States also criticized Russia for opening election polls in areas of Ukraine it is currently occupying.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the Russian Federation's illegitimate attempts to organize Russian presidential elections in temporarily occupied areas within the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine," the U.S. Mission to the United Nations said in a statement.

The Kremlin discounted the assertions of electoral malfeasance.

"We do not agree with the United States' assessment of the election," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday.

"De facto the United States is involved in the war in Ukraine and is de facto at war with us. This is not an opinion worth listening to and not an opinion that will be of importance to us."