HeavyWeaponsGuy
Banned
By that logic, there's nowhere in the world right now with fair elections. Just because America has two ruling parties working in tandem rather than one doesn't mean that the opposition isn't marginalized.
United Russia has decisive media control, to the point where no opposition party gets any serious amount of air-time on television (one of the most entrenched forms of media).
Within the last decade, the United States has seen several shifts in the Congressional balance of power as well as presidents from both parties. Russia has seen the same party exercise decisive control over the entire Russian government, even in instances where it was clear that the support of this party was waning. There are, in all systems, advantages to the incumbent party/leader, but the problem is the current Russian government is taking this to a level that is outside the spectrum of ordinary behavior from a democratic government.
Russia is by no means an authoritarian state, but many of the methods used to create the current balance of power are.