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Russia’s Far Eastern Primorye region makes another attempt to elect governor

By 10:00 local time (03:00 Moscow time), 67,000 people came to cast their ballot

© Yuri Smityuk/TASS

VLADIVOSTOK, December 16. /TASS/. Polling stations opened in Russia’s Far Eastern region of Primorye on Sunday for a rerun election to choose the region’s new governor from four candidates - Andrei Andreichenko (LDPR party), Oleg Kozhemyako (independent candidate), Alexey Timchenko (Party of Growth) and Roza Chemeris (‘For women of Russia’ movement).

Over 1,500 polling stations will be open between 8:00 and 20:00 local time (1:00-13:00 Moscow time) on Sunday, including 1,311 stationary stations, 200 ship-based stations and 30 stations at military facilities and in hospitals.

According to Natalya Kamayeva, the regional election commission’s secretary, the turnout was 4.62% in the first two hours of the vote. By 10:00 local time (03:00 Moscow time), 67,000 people came to cast their ballot.

"The turnout for this period of time was almost the same during the elections in September - 4.9%," she said.

The polls are monitored by about 1,500 public observers.

A total of 3,200 police officers are on duty to ensure order and public safety.

Primorye elections

In September, Russia’s Central Election Commission called on the election commission of the Primorsky Region to recognize the gubernatorial race as invalid saying it is impossible to confirm the real results.

With 100% of the vote in the September 16 gubernatorial race’s runoff counted, Acting Governor Andrei Tarasenko, who represents the United Russia party, secured 49.55% (253,200 votes), while the Communist Party’s candidate Andrei Ishchenko gained 48.06% (245,550 votes). Both candidates filed dozens of complaints against violations during the election. Ishchenko complained of violations during the vote count, while Tarasenko’s headquarters accused Ishchenko of vote buying.

In late September, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Oleg Kozhemyako, who headed the Sakhalin Region since 2015, as the region’s acting governor.

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