MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. Voting at Sunday’s elections to the Russian State Duma lower parliament house is over in Moscow and other regions of central European Russia but for Russia’s westernmost Kaliningrad region lagging one hour behind Moscow where polling stations will close at 21:00 Moscow time.
Two hours before the end of the voting, voter turnout in Moscow was 29%. No serious violations were reported throughout the day, a spokesman for the Moscow City Election Committee said.
After unused ballot papers are cancelled, territorial commissions will begin to count votes.
At the previous parliamentary polls on December 4, 2011, the voter turnout in Moscow was 50.03%
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.