Russia votes

Russia Votes
Last week Russia held parliamentary elections. A good starting point for academic information is the Russia Votes website. This site is maintained by the Centre for the Study of Public Policy University of Aberdeen, which specialises in studies of post soviet regions.
It has explanations of the electoral process, presidential election results 1996-2008For the Duma explanations of the system, plus some useful voting behaviour studies of the electorate from 1933-2011.

Other good starting points are the Central Election Commission official website which has an English language section with legislation, regulations and some results.
The Itar-Tass Russian News Agency also has news and commentary about political events. However do note this is a state funded agency which will impact on the stance of the news presented.
Further basic information on Russian elections and the electoral system can also be found on the IFES website election guide and the OSCE which has conducted observation of past elections. A number of think tanks and human rights bodies have had concerns about the elections. NDI has reported on the harassment of civil rights organisation GOLOS. It also has other papers and reports.
Human Rights Watch has also commented on harassment. Chatham House has podcasts and comment on the predicted results on its website.
In terms of other russian resources.
COCOREES Searchable catalogue of East European and Slavonic book and journal holdings in major Uk Libraries.

REENIC: Russian and East European Network Information Center
Maintained by the University of Texas. Extensive regional and subject directories of academic resources with helpful comment on content.
REESWEB: Russian and East European Studies Server
Maintained by the University of Pittsburgh. Interdisciplinary. Search by keyword or browse to find websites (organisations, journals indexes etc.) Annotations on content provided.