International monitors declared today that Russia's Parliamentary elections had failed to meet basic democratic standards because of the "overwhelming influence" of the party of President Vladimir Putin, which won by a landslide.

As counting continued in Russia after yesterday's poll, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) this morning said that Mr Putin had effectively merged the state with his United Russia party in the run-up to the election.

The verdict came as it was confirmed that newly-elected MP Andrei Lugovoi, the chief suspect in the poisoning murder of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, may be allocated to one of Russia's top security posts in a move which will infuriate Britain.

"These elections failed to meet many of the commitments and standards we have in the OSCE and Council of Europe," Goran Lennmarker, head of the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly told reporters in Moscow.

"Merging of the state and a political party is an abuse of power and clear violation of international standards."

With almost all votes counted, United Russia had won 64.1 percent of votes, nearly six times as many as its nearest rival, the Communist Party, which had 11.5 per cent.

Russian opposition politicians have already claimed that the poll was dogged by extensive vote-rigging, and that some voters were intimidated into voting for the ruling party.

Teachers, doctors and other state employees told of threats from government officials to vote for United Russia or lose their jobs. Local officials offered subsidised food, free mobile phone minutes and tickets to entertainment as inducements for people to go to polling stations.

Suspiciously high voting was also reported in some regions. Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of Chechnya, claimed that 99 per cent of people had voted, while Interfax reported a 98 per cent turnout in nearby Ingushetia.

Luc van den Brande, the head of a delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, echoed the criticism, saying that he hoped the "failures" would not be repeated in presidential elections next March.

"I strongly hope the failures we were underlining... that it will not be the case for the presidential election," said Mr van den Brande.

The OSCE had 105 representatives observing the elections, while the Council of Europe had 42.

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