* The results of the vote on Sunday in Russia’s parliamentary elections were “optimal” and “really reflect the situation in the country,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said as early election results showed his United Russia party had suffered siginificant losses at the polls
* United Russia party has garnered 48.5 percent in Russia’s parliamentary elections, according to exit polls released by the All-Russia Center for Public Opinion (VTsIOM) on Sunday after polling stations closed at 9:00 p.m. local time in the westernmost exclave of Kaliningrad
* Dozens of opposition activists who attempted to stage rallies against the parliamentary elections were arrested in Moscow and St. Petersburg Sunday evening
* The turnout in the State Duma elections in the North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya hit 94 percent as of 6:00 p.m. local time (14:00 GMT), the head of the local election commission said
* Parties competing for representation in the State Duma elections have complained of “tons of violations” during the Sunday polls, including illegal campaigning, vote fraud and even threats to observers
* 1.8 million Russians from around the world have casting their vote for the parliamentary elections
* Approximately 90% of Russia’s inmates serving time in the country’s penitentiaries have cast their ballots in the parliamentary elections, NTV news channel said
* Vladimir Churov, the head of the Russian Central Election Commission, treated those present at the commission’s headquarters with a ballot box made of Tula pryanik cakes on Sunday evening.
* The Ladny patrol ship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has left its home port of Sevastopol and headed to the Mediterranean Sea to join a group of ships of the Russian Northern and Baltic Fleets, the Russian Black Sea Fleet spokesman said
* Talks between supporters of South Ossetian opposition leader and former presidential candidate Alla Dzhioyeva and Russian Presidential Administration head Sergie Vinokurov, acting as the mediator between the South Ossetian opposition and official Tskhinvali, have failed, Dzhioyeva supporter Alan Pliyev told journalists
* South Ossetian opposition leader and former presidential candidate Alla Dzhioyeva urged her supporters at a rally in the capital of the former Georgian republic on Sunday to continue protests ’till they win
* International observers monitoring Russia’s parliamentary elections seen as a crucial test for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his ruling party registered no violations during Sunday’s vote while the Interior Ministry reported hundreds of electoral breaches
* Republican U.S. presidential candidate Herman Cain, ex-head of the Godfather’s Pizza chain, ended his election campaign after accusations of sexual misconduct