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Voter turnout at Russian parliamentary polls reaches 39.37% as of 19:00 Moscow time — CEC

Russian Central Election Commission official said that people returning from weekend vacations and those who "think that it is better to vote in the evening" still have time to cast their votes

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. Average voter at elections to the Russian State Duma lower parliament house was 39.37% as at 18:00 Moscow time, Nikolai Bulayev, a deputy chairman of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC), said.

"The turnout is as follows: 39.37%," he said, adding that these were the data as of 18:00 Moscow time.

He said that people returning from weekend vacations and those who "think that it is better to vote in the evening" still have time to cast their votes. "I am sure, everything will be OK with the turnout," he said.

Elections to the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, are being on September 18 in a split system: 225 members of parliament will be elected by party tickets, while the other 225 are going to be elected in one-seat constituencies. More than 111 million people are eligible to vote in the election and no minimal turnout is required.

Fourteen parties are on the election ballot: the United Russia party, the Communist Party of Russia, the Liberal Democratic Party, A Just Russia party, Russia’s Patriots, Civil Platform, the Green party, the Party of Growth, Parnas, Civil Power, Russia’s Communists, Yabloko, Rodina (Motherland) and the Russian Party of Pensioners for Justice. Parties have to pass the five-percent electoral threshold to win seats in the Duma.

On the same day, 39 Russian regions go to the polls to elect their legislative assemblies, direct elections of top officials are taking place in seven regions. Besides that, around 5,000 municipal elections are also held.

The number of registered candidates for the upcoming elections at all levels, from federal to municipal, exceeds 103,000 office-seekers.