The OSCE and the Council of Europe said on 8 December that the results of the State Duma election were \"fundamentally distorted,\" \"The Moscow Times\" reported on 9 December. The two groups, which had about 500 observers monitoring the 7 December elections, cited abuses of administrative resources during the campaign, including preferential coverage by the state media and the fact that about one-third of the country\'s governors were on Unified Russia\'s party list. While the international observers praised the TsIK for conducting the election \"highly professionally,\" they called the process as a whole \"fundamentally unfair.\" The president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Bruce George, said the contest \"failed in meeting many OSCE and international standards\" and was a \"regression in the democratization process in Russia.\" In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the Bush administration shares the OSCE\'s concerns about the fairness of the election. (RFE/RL)