Russia launches election monitoring site

MOSCOW, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Russia launched a Web site Friday to allow people to monitor the progress of the March 4 presidential election, officials said.

The idea to install Web cameras at the 91,400 polling stations across the country came from presidential hopeful and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, RIA Novosti reported.

In an attempt to appeal to opposition groups, Putin suggested the Web site monitor the elections.

Deputy Minister Ilya Massukh said people wishing to use the Web site will have to register by March 3 and specify which polling stations they want to monitor.

Google, Yandex, Facebook, Mail.ru and Twitter users may access the site, webvybory2012.ru, through their accounts.

The monitoring system has the capacity to accommodate 25 million visitors and 60,000 simultaneous visits at a cost of $430.5 million.