Pro-Kremlin parties won regional elections, preliminary results showed yesterday, after a campaign which left Russia’s weak opposition more marginalised than ever. United Russia, a party which supports President Vladimir Putin, was leading in 13 out of 14 regions. Fair Russia, another pro-Kremlin party, led in the other region. Sunday’s ballot for regional assemblies and mayors involved just under a third of the total electorate and was widely seen as a dry run for national parliamentary elections in December. Pundits had predicted government parties, buoyed by a strong economy, Kremlin-controlled media, generous funding and Putin’s high personal popularity, would sweep the vote. Critics of the Kremlin say the opposition, in retreat since Putin’s first presidential win in 2000, never stood a serious chance. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, whose party trailed well behind United Russia, alleged numerous violations of electoral rules. “There have never been such dirty elections in Russia,” he told reporters. Liberal opposition parties, ignored by state-controlled media and struggling to find support, were reduced to mounting isolated protests after officials struck them off the ballot in four regions for alleged electoral misdeeds. United Russia was trailed by the Communists and Fair Russia in most regions. But Fair Russia led in the southern Stavropol region with 37 % of the vote after 86 % of the votes had been counted.