Russia election chief dismisses fraud accusations

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's election chief dismissed opposition complaints of fraud on Sunday, saying there were no serious violations in a parliamentary election expected to give President Vladimir Putin's party a big majority.

"I think there were no serious violations in the course of polling day," Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov told Vesti-24 television station.

Opposition parties and independent election observers say they received numerous reports of vote-buying, multiple voting and intimidation of voters during Sunday's election.

Asked about complaints by the Communists, who earlier pledged to challenge the election results in court, Churov said:

"If there are official complaints made to us or to the courts then we will look at them. But I think there were no serious violations on voting day."

"At least during the voting, not one party leader called me and no-one complained (to me). I had some calls from international observers and we resolved their problems immediately."

Churov, a former colleague of Putin's when they worked at St Petersburg's town hall in the 1990s, was appointed to head the election commission earlier this year.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, writing by Michael Stott)