Russian president Vladimir Putin’s party was on course for a landslide victory tonight as early results showed they had clinched more than 60% of the vote.

A Moscow court sentenced former chess champion Garry Kasparov to five days in jail today for leading an opposition protest.

Riot police broke up an anti-Kremlin rally of several thousand people today, detaining some of the protesters, including former chess champion Garry Kasparov and other opposition leaders.

President Emomali Rakhmonov has been re-elected with 79.3% of the vote, according to preliminary results in Tajikistan’s presidential poll.

OPPOSITION leaders called for Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s election victory to be declared invalid, while Western-led observers said the vote that gave him 91% support was flawed.

Azerbaijan’s ruling party looks likely to return to power, according to incomplete results today from an election that the opposition has branded fraudulent.

The Ukrainian Supreme Court rejected an array of motions from lawyers of defeated presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych today as it started hearing his appeal to annul the results of last month's election.

Anna Melnichuk, Kiev

Ukraine’s Supreme Court rejected an array of appeals of last month’s presidential election results filed by allies of Viktor Yanukovych, the former prime minister whom preliminary results show lost the vote to Western-leaning reformer Viktor Yushchenko.

Ukraine’s Supreme Court today turned down four appeals against the result of last month’s presidential election results filed by Viktor Yanukovych, the former prime minister who preliminary results show lost to a Western-leaning reformer.

With tens of thousands of opposition demonstrators in the Ukrainian capital for a third consecutive day and the talk of revolution in the air, an ally of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko said the only thing to negotiate is the transfer of power.

Opposition challenger Viktor Yushchenko won a resounding victory over Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine’s presidential race today, collecting 58% of the vote, according to an exit poll.

REFORMIST opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko edged the prime minister in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election, the Central Elections Commission said yesterday after a delayed final tally.

Reformist opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko edged the prime minister in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election, the Central Elections Commission said today after a delayed final tally.

Belarusians overwhelmingly approved a referendum on scrapping presidential term limits, the Central Elections Commission announced today, allowing the authoritarian leader of the former Soviet republic to seek a new term in 2006.