Vote Rigging in Russia

Articles in the Moscow Times, Times of London, and now, the Guardian have commented on the blogger/statistician Sergei Shpilkin’s analysis of Russia’s presidential election returns – a study which found that a disproportionate number of polling stations reported results ending in a 5 or a 0, allegedly creating an unlikely pattern indicating manipulation. Luke Harding of the Guardian writes, “Medvedev’s election victory was clearly much smaller than claimed – despite his endorsement by Putin, and despite relentless and favourable coverage from Kremlin-controlled television. Given that he was going to win anyway, one wonders why the Kremlin went to so much trouble to manicure his victory.”