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Voters in West-Siberian city show flagging activity at mayoral election

Only 5% registered voters turned up at the polling stations by 12:00 hours local time

OMSK, June 17 (Itar-Tass) — Voters in the West-Siberian city of Omsk, which is home to about 1.2 million people, are demonstrating a flagging activity in the early mayoral election, which is held today to find a replacement for Mayor Viktor Shreider, who had to quit the position after getting a deputy's seat in the State Duma.

Only 5% registered voters turned up at the polling stations by 12:00 hours local time. Experts single out two possible factors behind this.

First, the holiday season is close to its peak and the vast majority of voters may have obviously preferred to spend a nice sunny day at their dachas. Secondly, this is the fourth election race in the city over a period of six months.

Apart from the parliamentary and presidential elections last December and this March respectively, people in Omsk also elected a local legislature.

There are seven candidates competing for mayor’s office – Vyacheslav Dvorakovsky of the United Russia party, Viktor Zharkov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Yan Zelinsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Irina Overina of A Just Russia party, Alexander Korotkov of the right-wing liberal Yabloko party, and the self-nominees Sergei Maslennikov and Igor Antropov.

The voting procedures are broadcast live at a special website of the city’s Electoral Commission.

The authorities have set up 448 polling stations for the occasion and placed medical works at each station to provide emergency aid. Watching the electoral procedures are about 1,200 observers, including the ones who came from other regions of Russia.

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