CCTV has emerged appearing to show an election official allegedly stuffing a pile of voting papers in to a ballot box in Russia.

The ruling United Russia has cruised to an easy victory in parliamentary polls in a result that could pave the way for President Vladimir Putin to glide to a fourth term in 2018 elections.

But there have been claims of vote-rigging and video has now been released showing alleged ballot stuffing.

Surveillance footage shows a woman sitting at a desk producing a handful of papers from under another sheet of paper while another woman watches on.

CCTV has emerged appearing to show an election official allegedly stuffing a pile of voting papers in to a ballot box in Russia

Surveillance footage shows a woman sitting at a desk producing a handful of papers from under another sheet of paper while another woman watches on

Caught on camera: Seconds later, she takes them to a ballot box to her left and pushes them all in

Seconds later, she takes them to a ballot box to her left and pushes them all in.

It is not yet clear exactly where or when the footage was taken or whether authorities have taken action.

Despite the authorities pledging to crack down on vote-rigging, observers around the country made claims of violations including 'cruise-voting' - where people are transported to vote at multiple polling stations.

Monitoring group Golos said there were 427 reports of electoral violations by 5.30pm last night.

It is not yet clear exactly where or when the footage was taken or whether authorities have taken action

Activists blocked voters from reaching Russian national election ballot boxes amid corruption claims as Vladimir Putin hit the polling station

The demonstrators stood at the entrance of Russia's embassy in the Ukrainian capital, where a polling station has been set up for Russian citizens who wish to vote in their country's parliamentary elections

One man was arrested yesterday and claims of fraudulent voting such as young men registering multiple names at the ballot boxes have materialised

Electoral Commission chief Ella Pamfilova admitted that there had been problems in certain regions but officials said the number of violations was way down on the last vote.

'In any case there already is full confidence that the elections are nonetheless quite legitimate,' Pamfilova said.

'And we did a lot for that.'

Sunday's ballot for the 450-seat State Duma was smooth sailing for authorities desperate to avoid a repeat of mass protests last time round and eager to increase their dominance as Russia faces the longest economic crisis of Putin's rule.

But a low turnout suggested that many Russians may have been turned off by a system in which the Kremlin wields near-total power, which could raise questions over legitimacy.

The voting for the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, was not expected to substantially change the distribution of power, in which the pro-Kremlin United Russia party holds an absolute majority

A leader of the nationalist Svoboda party, Igor Miroshnichenko was among the demonstrators Sunday

Russians are called to the polls on Sundayto vote for a new State Duma - the 450-seat lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia

'We can announce already with certainty that the party secured a good result, that it won,' Putin said after polls closed.

'The situation is tough and difficult but the people still voted for United Russia,' he said on state television.

With 90 percent of the votes counted, the United Russia party had 54.3 percent of votes, securing it at least 338 seats in the 450-member parliament, up from 238 previously, according to results announced early Monday.

It was followed by the Communists and the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, on 13.5 percent and 13.3 percent respectively, and A Just Russia, which received 6.2 percent, results published by the election commission showed.

Those four parties - which made up the last parliament and all back the Kremlin - were the only ones to clear the five percent threshold needed to claim a share of the one-half of seats up for grabs.

The vote comes as Putin's approval ratings remain high at around 80 percent and authorities appear to be banking on trouble-free presidential elections in two years.

An activist holds a mock figure of Putin during a protest in front of the Russian Embassy, as Ukrainian servicemen and policemen stand guard in Kiev, Ukraine

A Russian citizen lays on the ground after he was pushed down during an anti-Russian protest in front of the Russian Embassy, in Kiev

Results indicated that liberal opposition groups would not make it into parliament, with neither the Yabloko party, nor the Parnas party, headed by former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, having secured enough votes to win a seat.

The other half of the deputies are being elected on a constituency basis after a change to the election law.

With only a fraction of the votes counted, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev confidently said that his party would end up with an 'absolute majority' in the Duma.

Though the overall tally for United Russia was higher than the 49 percent it claimed in 2011, participation was low, particularly in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Only 47.8 of voters cast their ballots, against 60 percent in 2011, electoral officials said.

Sunday's election follows a tumultuous few years that have seen Russia seize the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine, plunge into its worst standoff with the West since the Cold War and start a military campaign in Syria.

A Russian army officer holding a ballot walks through military cadets lining up to get their ballots at a polling station during a parliamentary election in Moscow, Russia

A Russian army officer with his child, foreground, and military cadets line up to get their ballots at a polling station during a parliamentary elections

Among the potential violations he cited were long lines of soldiers voting at stations where they were not registered and voters casting their ballots on tables instead of curtained-off voting booths

A Russian military cadet casts his ballot at a polling station during a parliamentary elections in Moscow

But the Kremlin exerts almost complete control over the media and public discourse, and this year's election campaign was dubbed the dullest in recent memory.

Looming large was the spectre of mass protests over vote rigging that followed the last legislative polls five years ago and grew into the biggest challenge to Putin since he took charge in 2000.

Since then the Kremlin has cracked down on the right to protest while making a show of stamping out electoral manipulation.

The former scandal-tainted election chief was removed in favour of a human rights advocate who allowed more genuine opposition candidates to take part.

For the first time since Moscow seized the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014, residents there voted for Russia's parliament, in a poll slammed by Ukraine as illegal.

Voters in some areas of the vast country were also electing regional leaders.

In the North Caucasus region of Chechnya, strongman Ramzan Kadyrov looked set to win the first electoral test of his rule after rights groups said that criticism was ruthlessly silenced during the campaign.

Last night, ctivists blocked voters from reaching Russian national election ballot boxes amid corruption claims as Vladimir Putin hit the polling station.

Massive demonstrations broke out in Moscow after the last Duma election in 2011, unsettling authorities with their size and persistence

On Sunday morning, Russia's election commission head said results from voting in a Siberian region could be annulled if allegations of vote fraud are confirmed

A man talks to election commission officials at a polling station during a parliamentary elections in Moscow, Russia

A man holds his child as he casts his ballot at a polling station during the parliamentary elections

The demonstrators stood at the entrance of Russia's embassy in the Ukrainian capital, where a polling station has been set up for Russian citizens who wish to vote in their country's parliamentary elections.

One man was arrested yesterday and claims of fraudulent voting such as young men registering multiple names at the ballot boxes have materialised.

A leader of the nationalist Svoboda party, Igor Miroshnichenko was among the demonstrators Sunday.

He said Ukraine should 'not allow the enemy and state aggressor that stole Crimea to conduct illegal elections in Ukraine'.

The perceived honesty of the election could be a critical factor in whether protests arise following the voting.

Massive demonstrations broke out in Moscow after the last Duma election in 2011, unsettling authorities with their size and persistence.

A woman walks to cast her ballot at a polling station during a parliamentary election in Moscow, Russia

Leader of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky poses for journalists as he casts his ballots at a polling station during the parliamentary election in the Russian capital

People line up to get their ballots at a polling station ready to cast their votes

Russia's governing party and its three largely cooperative opponents are expected to retain their positions in the national parliament, but new procedures for choosing the seats could affect their proportions

Navy cadets line up to get their ballots at a polling station during parliamentary elections in St.Petersburg, Russia

'Information about violations is coming constantly from various regions,' the Interfax news agency quoted Ilya Shablinsky, a coordinator of observers for the presidential Council on Human Rights, as saying.

Among the potential violations he cited were long lines of soldiers voting at stations where they were not registered and voters casting their ballots on tables instead of curtained-off voting booths.

On Sunday morning, Russia's election commission head said results from voting in a Siberian region could be annulled if allegations of vote fraud are confirmed.

A candidate from the liberal Yabloko party in the Altai region of Siberia told state news agency Tass that young people were voting in the name of elderly people unlikely to come to polling stations.

In Moscow, a man claiming to have a bomb threatened to blow up a polling station.