BY JENNIFER LONG

ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

 

Thousands of Russians are protesting. World leaders are calling for an investigation. And one former Russian president says the government should hold a new election. The BBC explains...

“Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev says that Russia must annul the parliamentary vote and hold a new election. The pro-Kremlin United Party won less than 50% of the vote, but international observers say the vote is marred by widespread vote rigging on Tuesday.”

The election results keep Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Party in power. But Gorbachev says it’s not what the people want. He told the Interfax News Agency…

"More and more people are starting to believe that the election results are not fair … I believe that ignoring public opinion discredits the authorities and destabilizes the situation."

Grobachev adds authorities…

" … must admit that there have been numerous falsifications and ballot stuffing."

And he isn’t the only one calling for a recount. Thousands or protesters have rallied from Moscow to St. Petersburg chanting “Revolution” and “Russia without Putin.” Hillary Clinton voiced her opinion at the Organization for Security and Cooperation session. Fox News has her comment.

“As we have seen in many places and most recently in the Duma elections in Russia, elections that are neither free nor fair have the same effect.”

But the poll results have created some confusion. Even with the alleged cheating, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Party lost a ton of support in this election. An opinion writer for the New York Times wonders what happened.

“I find it quite amazing that Vladimir Putin’s party lost as much ground as it did, not because they didn’t deserve to, but because I’m not used to Russians expressing their opposition to power openly… it’s even more amazing that Mr. Putin lost so much ground despite what elections observers are calling blatant fraud. If you’re rigging the ballots, shouldn’t you gain ground?”

But Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says the election results were perfectly normal. EuroNews has his comments.

“United Russia got exactly what it has, no more no less. The elections were absolutely fair, just and democratic. It got as much as sociological agencies had estimated.”

So will Gorbachev’s call for a new vote be taken seriously? A writer for the Washington Post says probably not.
 
“Gorbachev’s views carry far more weight in the West, where he is respected as a statesman and winner of the Nobel Peace prize in 1990, than in Russia, where he is widely disliked and has no power.”

And a blogger for The Moscow Times says – to get some real change in Russia, people have to go beyond the protests.
 
“…the only way to change the deeply ingrained status quo is to create a new opposition force that is more social-democratic in its focus … This would require creating a new party  … I am certain that, with the help of Internet-based social networks, it would be possible to gather the signatures of 150,000 to 200,000 members of that party within six months' time."

So far, another parliamentary election has not been scheduled. But Prime Minister Putin has promised a "significant reshuffle" following the presidential election next year.