Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won parliamentary elections Sunday amid claims of vote-rigging and fraud.

It has been recorded that United Russia has received over 60% of the vote from Russia’s 108 million registered voters (a 60% turnout). The Communist party currently stands at 11.4%; the LDPR at 9.5%; and 7.5% for A Just Russia.

Election observers from the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the elections were "not held on a level playing field" in a joint statement delivered by OSCE President Gordan Lennmarker.

There were many reported violations of election laws. At one polling station in the town of Pestovo, in the Novgorod region, dozens of ballots were already marked with a check next to United Russia, according to a local voter.

The CoE and OSCE noted special concern over a strong media bias towards Putin and the United Russia party leading up to the election, widespread reports of harassment of opposition parties, and a new election code that made it more difficult for smaller political parties go gain the seven percent of the vote necessary to serve on the State Duma.

They also called Putin's merging of the state with the United Russia party an abuse of power.

Last week, Amnesty International flagged concerns about repression and rights violations in the run-up to Russia's parliamentary elections, alleging that the Russian government had interfered with opposition parties' rights of freedom of expression and free assembly.

Amnesty characterized opposition candidate Garry Kasparov - arrested earlier this month in an anti-Putin rally - as a prisoner of conscience. Kasparov was released from jail a few days before the election.

Russian human rights group Golos also said that election observers had already been prevented from effectively observing the elections because of a politically-motivated criminal prosecution. [SOURCES: AP, Reuters, RIA Novosti]