Russia's Medvedev says election laws may be amended

By Oleg Shchedrov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday he did not rule out changes to electoral laws after this month's regional polls that were decried by opposition as a "stab in the back of democracy", Russian news agencies reported.

The pro-Kremlin United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, scored a sweeping victory in a string of regional polls held on Oct. 11, consolidating further its domination in federal and provincial legislatures.

Opposition parties, which viewed the polls as an indicator of Medvedev's commitment to stand up to his promises on democracy, accused the authorities of massive election fraud.

"The president noted that even in countries with mature democracy changes to the electoral system do happen," the agencies reported after Medvedev met Central Election Commission head Vladimir Churov. Foreign media were not invited.

"The rules are changing, the technology is changing, we should be reasonably conservative," Medvedev told Churov.

Medvedev hailed United Russia's victory but the vote became a headache for the president, who had promised to make Russia's political system more flexible and allow smaller parties squeezed out from the political stage during Putin's presidency in 2000-08 to regain some weight.

Three opposition parties in the national parliament, the Communist Party, Fair Russia Party and Liberal Democratic Party, staged an unprecedented walkout protest demanding a review of election laws they say favour United Russia.