BRUSSELS, Aug 31 (AFP) - The European Commission on Tuesday condemned weekend presidential elections in Chechnya, and called for early parliamentary polls in the strife-torn Russian republic.
While conceding that the EU had no monitors at the polls, a spokeswoman for EU external relations commissioner Chris Patten said: "We have noticed persistant reports that the .... elections were neither free nor fair.
"We regret particlarly the seemingly arbitary exclusion of one of the strongest candidates from the list of those permitted to contest the elections," added the spokeswoman, Emma Udwin.
"We will now be pressing for early parliamentary elections in Chechnya and for those elections to be held in a way that can be regarded as free and fair," she added, noting that in theory the parliamentary polls should be held within three months of the presidential ballots.
The Chechen ballots Sunday elected Kremlin-backed career police officer Alu Alkhanov win a crushing victory, but critics questioned how officials managed to report massive turnout data when polling stations had often been deserted.
Alkhanov reduced the other six candidates to the status of also-rans by polling 73.48 percent, according to local election officials. His nearest rival, Movsur Khamidov, polled only 8.94 percent.