On the second day of Russia's parliamentary elections, they are already overshadowed by allegations of fraud by opposition activists.

On Sunday, following the closure of polling stations, Russia is expected to elect a new Duma in the next five years with 450 members, as well as several new regional and city administrations.

On the first day of voting yesterday, independent observers from the Golos voter rights organization reported about 2.000 procedural violations, most of them for photographs or videos, which is a common indicator of vote buying.

According to the Golos report, there was a large influx of people in uniform at the polls, indicating that the government had mobilized all civil servants to ensure the victory of the ruling United Russia party. There are also reports of people voting multiple times.

"It was a terrible day. "Greasy and dirty." wrote on Twitter Irina Fatjanova, a local politician from St. Petersburg.

According to Golos, the Central Election Commission refused to consider the complaints and simply rejected them.

In contrast, the chairwoman of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, praised yesterday's organization of the voting.

The ruling United Russia party is trying to retain an absolute majority in the Duma, backed by President Vladimir Putin, for whom the election is an important test of national sentiment.

Many prominent opposition figures were not allowed to vote. Among them are supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who from the penitentiary where he is serving his sentence called for a protest vote against United Russia.