THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF RUSSIA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 3 8. The voting was held by secret ballot on 7 December 2003. On 19 December 2003 the CEC officially confirmed the election results by Decree No. 72/620-4. According to the official statistics, 60,712,000 persons voted in the elections. Thus, the level of participation was 55.75 per cent of the registered number of voters. The United Russia party obtained a majority of votes (over 37 per cent) and formed the biggest grouping in Parliament with 224 seats. In the aftermath of the elections 37 Members of Parliament elected on behalf of United Russia renounced their mandates, whilst keeping their official positions, and transferred their seats in the Duma to other candidates on the United Russia list (who otherwise would not have been elected). On 24 December 2003 the CEC approved the forfeiture of 37 mandates obtained by the United Russia candidates in favour of other members of that party. 9. The Communist Party won 12.6 per cent of votes and obtained 52 seats, and accordingly formed the second biggest grouping in the Duma. Yabloko obtained 4.3 per cent of votes. Since this was less than the statutory five per cent minimum threshold, Yabloko did not obtain any seats in parliament. Mr Ryzhkov (the sixth applicant) obtained 35.1 per cent of votes in his district and was elected as an individual MP to the Duma. Mr Ivanenko and Ms Khakamada (the third and eighth applicants) were individual candidates, supported by the Yabloko party and SPS party respectively; they failed to be elected. B. Electoral campaigning and media coverage of the 2003 elections 10. All the major TV companies in Russia covered the elections. Amongst them were five main nationwide broadcasting companies: Channel One, VGTRK (All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company), TV Centre, NTV and REN TV. The first three companies were directly controlled by the State. Thus, the State held more than 50 per cent of shares in Channel One; VGTRK was a federal State unitary enterprise; the Moscow City Administration held ninety per cent of shares in TV Centre. The other two channels (NTV and REN TV) were incorporated as limited companies not owned directly by the State; however, amongst their major shareholders were corporations affiliated with the State. 11. The above five channels had a very large audience and covered all geographical zones. Thus, Channel One covered almost all the territory of Russia, VGTRK 97.4 per cent of the territory, and TV Centre over 70 per cent. The outreach of NTV amounted to 91 per cent coverage of Russian territory. The outreach of REN TV at the relevant time was not specified by the applicants. 12. During the electoral campaign the parties participating in it received a certain amount of free airtime on TV channels for “electoral campaigning”, that is, direct political advertisement. Thus, each State