The Chairman of Russia’s Central Elections Commission, Vladimir Churov, has told an audience at a Russian university that the US election system is the worst in the world, Russia Today reports.

"No election (process) in the world is organized worse than the American one, and they don't want to make it better," Churov told the audience at Russian Orthodox University. “Seventeen presidents have been elected by a tiny minority."

Churov went on to argue that the US electoral college allows for Presidents to win with the minority of the popular vote, as happened in the 2000 elections.

"Our election legislation is far more liberal than the American model," Churov concluded.

While Churov is right that in Russian elections there does tends to be a clear majority (Putin won almost 64% of the vote earlier this year), there are a number of more damaging criticisms about the Russian system.

The 2011 Duma elections (the elections for Russia's parliament) were criticized widely for various vote-rigging tactics, including the use of "invisible ink" and bussing pro-government supporters to multiple districts. Additionally, the 2012 presidential elections were also found to be "clearly skewed" in favor of Vladimir Putin by election monitors.