MOSCOW, November 2 (Itar-Tass) — At present, there are less than seven contenders per seat in the State Duma of the new convocation, Vladimir Churov, the chairman of Russia’s Central Electoral Commission said Wednesday at a conference with the heads of Russian diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad.
“There are only 3,050 candidates on federal lists at moment,” he said. “This means only seven or so candidates are contending for each Duma mandate.”
This is far less than in 2007 when there were 13 contenders and still less than in 2003 when the parliamentary election was held under a mixed system, the ballots contained the names of 26 parties, and as many as 16 candidate competed for each parliamentary seat.
Churov believes, however, this does not mean at all that electoral competition is dwindling. He indicated that a tough political struggle is underway and the pre-election promotional campaign is picking pace.
He recalled that the parliamentary election will be accompanied by 2,800 elections at various levels in 77 constituent regions of Russia. In addition to this, 103 local referendums will be held.
No regional or local elections have been scheduled for December 4 in only six constituent regions – Bashkortostan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, Ivanovo region, Moscow City, and the Nenets Autonomous Area.
Voters in 27 regions will be supposed to elect regional legislatures. At the same time, the residents of the Chechen capital Grozny, the town of Magas in the North Caucasian region of Ingushetia, and Saransk, the administrative center of Mordovia, will elect city halls.
A mayor will be elected in the western city of Lipetsk for a term of office that will last five years.
The number of eligible voters who are expected to vote in the December 4 regional and local elections stands at around 39 million.