Ruling United Russia party offers payouts to ensure poll victory

Opposition voices have been silenced and rules tweaked to make monitoring parliamentary elections harder

The Russian government has silenced opposition voices, approved cash payouts to potential voters, and made it nearly impossible to monitor the polls as it prepares for parliamentary elections next month that the opposition has warned will be marred by fraud.

United Russia, the ruling party that has supported Vladimir Putin through nearly his entire presidency, is expected to maintain a majority of the seats in the next Duma, despite state polling that shows that just 26% of Russians are ready to vote for the party- its lowest rating since 2008.