Russian Polling Stations go Live on Web to Fight Corruption

The Russian government will provide live webcasts from polling stations during the presidential election in response to allegations of corruption.

Protests were held across the country following December's State Duma (lower house of parliament) elections, in which a series of undercover recordings appeared to show widespread corruption.

Clips revealed the falsification of ballots, pens in voting booths being filled with erasable ink and ballot boxes containing a number of already completed papers before the vote was due to open.

The count saw Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party cling to a majority, but protesters claimed that the vote was fixed to inflate the party's support.

The allegations led to large-scale public protests, with voters in 50 cities taking to the streets to voice their discontent and calling for the election results to be annulled - an opinion that was repeated by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Despite the outcry, which saw 300 protesters arrested in Moscow, Putin maintained that the election results would stand.

During the presidential election on 4 March, the webcasts will give viewers the opportunity to monitor polling stations in real time, both during the voting and tallying processes.

United Russia claimed the State Duma results "guarantee the stable development of our state".