Russians abroad voted eight to one against Putin's party, defying official results

Russians voting at embassies and consulates abroad backed the liberal New People party over Vladimir Putin's United Russia by a margin of eight to one, according to two independent exit polls conducted during this weekend's State Duma elections — the reverse of official results from inside Russia, where Putin's party took nearly 58% of the vote.The Vote Abroad project, which surveyed almost 15,700 voters at 27 polling stations across 22 countries, put New People at 43%, the Communist Party at 18.3% and United Russia at 5.5%.In 10 countries, including Armenia, Germany and Finland, United Russia failed to clear the 5% threshold required to win Duma seats.A separate exit poll by opposition movement Vesna and the Progress project, covering 18 stations in 17 countries, put New People first at every location with 47.3%, the Communist Party second at 19.2% and United Russia at 2.8%.Inside Russia, the Central Election Commission reported United…