RUSSIAN communists (CPRF) have asked for a probe into alleged violations allowing people to vote twice in March’s presidential election.

CPRF general secretary Gennady Zyuganov has called for the prosecutor general’s office to launch wide-ranging investigations, branding previous assessments by Russia’s Central Election Commission “inadequate.”

Mr Zyuganov explained that a mobile voting system had allowed for “mass double-voting” with Russians able to cast a vote at ballot stations in their place of residence and then vote again at a ballot station of their choice.

After voting closed, commission head Ella Pamfilova reported that violations had halved compared to previous elections due to the installation of CCTV in polling stations, although a small number had their votes annulled due to violations it had uncovered.

Mr Zyuganov wrote: “As the Central Election Commission has given an obviously inadequate appraisal of this problem, I think that only law enforcement agencies coordinated by the prosecutor general’s office can reveal the possible criminal conspiracy seeking mass double-voting, as well as single incidents in which citizens repeatedly expressed their political will.”

The election was won convincingly by incumbent Vladimir Putin, who is due to be officially sworn in on May 7, with Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin finishing second with 11.7 per cent of the vote.

Mr Grudinin’s vote was the lowest ever for a Communist candidate in Russia.

He predicted he would achieve at least 15 per cent in the poll and blamed a slanderous media campaign launched by Russian authorities for the poor showing.