Moscow, 3 May: Head of the Central Electoral Commission Vladimir Churov has denied media reports that the commission is working on a document which would limit communication between members of the commission and journalists.

"All documents which the Central Electoral Commission is preparing deal solely with the organization of elections in strict compliance with the law of the Russian Federation," he told Interfax today.

"Everything has to be organized well because democracy is first of all order in the organization of elections and rigorous observance of the law," he said.

[Interfax news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0700 gmt 3 May 07 quoted Churov as saying that the turnout at the State Duma election in December 2007 will be quite high. "For the time-being, it is too early to make predictions. However, taking into account the past elections, both federal and regional ones, I would consider a good average turnout across the country to be at least 60 per cent," he said.

Asked if there were more changes to the electoral law in the pipeline in the run-up to the forthcoming elections, Churov said that "according to the information I have, the answer is no."].