(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The pro-Kremlin United Russia (YR) party maintains a high level of public support in the country, according to a poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center. 43 per cent of respondents would vote for United Russia in this year's election to the State Duma, down four points since mid-July.

The Communist Party (KPRF) is a distant second with nine per cent, followed by A Just Russia with six per cent, and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) with five per cent.

Vladimir Putin was elected to a second term as president in March 2004 with 71.31 per cent of all cast ballots. In April 2005, Putin ruled out seeking a new mandate, saying, "I will not change the constitution and in line with the constitution, you cannot run for president three times in a row." The next presidential election is tentatively scheduled for March 2008.

The next election to the State Duma is scheduled for Dec. 2. For the first time, all 450 lawmakers will be chosen through party-list proportional representation, with a seven per cent threshold. In the 2003 election, only four political parties—United Russia, the KPRF, the LDPR and the Motherland - National Patriotic Union (MDRT)—received more than seven per cent of the vote.

On Aug. 20, the LDPR's website was hacked, and its home page was filled with profanities and crude drawings. LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky declared: "In this incident, I see the beginning of the election campaign."

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