> We used election data from three countries besides Russia: 2011 general election in Spain, 2010 presidential election in Poland (1st round), and 2009 federal

> We used election data from three countries besides Russia: 2011 general election in Spain, 2010 presidential election in Poland (1st round), and 2009 federal election in Germany (Zweitstimmen, i.e. party votes). These three elections were chosen because the data are publicly available down to the single polling station level, and because the number and size of polling stations are comparable to those in Russia I guess this means they found the data first, then decided to try to analyze it and compare it with similar data elsewhere. It's probably not their work-related research (http://www.fchampalimaud.org/en/the-foundation/mission/ http://www.fchampalimaud.org/en/the-foundation/mission/).