In a telephone interview from Nalchik, Dyachenko complained that as a result the Communists were able to detect direct fraud in only 21 polling stations at three of the republic's 11 districts - Maisky, Urvansky and Nalchik, the capital.

After comparing copies of the protocols obtained by communist observers at six Maisky district polling stations with the final protocols listed with the overseeing territorial commission, Communists discovered that 2,864 votes were added to Putin's tally. In three polling stations in the Urvansky district, Putin gained an additional 1,338 votes, and in 12 polling stations in Nalchik an additional 2,924 votes, Dyachenko said.

Of the 7,126 padded ballots, 2,361 were originally cast for Zyuganov and altered, Dyachenko said. The records showed that these votes had been taken away from the Communist candidate in nine polling stations. The rest of the additional ballots came from ghost voters who were made up by the commissions, he said.

"They boosted the number of people who came to vote at those polling stations. In Maisky district, 926 voters were added; in Urvansky, 915 and in Nalchik, 2,921," Dyachenko said.

However, compared to the number of voters who cast ballots that day in those three districts, the 7,126 votes allegedly added to Putin's final count are insignificant. In the Maisky district 24,608 people voted; in Urvansky, 53,606 and in Nalchik, 129,593.

At polling station No. 179 in the Maisky district, the Communists even caught the commission members stuffing the ballot boxes red-handed, Dyachenko said. According to one Communist observer, 640 voters were registered entering the polling station that day. But after the commission members threw the Communist observers out of the room where they were conducting the final count, they came up with 972 ballots.

"That means that 332 ballots were stuffed!" Dyachenko said, adding that in the town of Prokhladny, another observer found the number of ballots exceeded the number of voters by 389.

"But actions by Communist election commission members to prevent stuffing [the ballot box] were blocked by representatives of the local administration," Dyachenko said.

The Communists of Kabardino-Balkariya filed three lawsuits - two in the Supreme Court and one in the Maisky district court. No ruling has been made so far, Dyachenko said, adding that the administration's pressure in support of Putin was enormous.