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Turnout makes less than 10% at Siberia’s Novosibirsk early mayoral election so far

NOVOSIBIRSK, April 06. /ITAR-TASS/. The turnout has made 9.85 percent at 12 noon local time (5am GMT) on Sunday at mayoral elections in the Russian Siberian city of Novosibirsk, chairperson of the city election committee Olga Blago told Itar-Tass.

“As of 12 noon the turnout has made around 10 percent. This is about half lower than the turnout at mayoral elections in 2009,” Blago said.

For comparison already 20.3 percent of Novosibirsk residents voted at mayoral elections by noon in 2009.

The highest turnout is reported by the noon in the central district of the city where 13.6 percent of city residents had already voted. The lowest turnout is observed in Oktyabrsky and Kirovsky districts at 8.6 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively.

A total of 1,151.472 voters can participate in Novosibirsk mayoral elections. According to election law, absentee ballots and early voting are not envisaged at mayoral elections.

The city election committee noted that no serious violations had been reported yet at any of more than 600 polling stations. “There are two petitions over canvassing for two candidates. Law enforcement agencies are inquiring into these cases,” the head of the city election committee said.

“We do not see any major violations, petty technical flaws are being eliminated at the spot immediately. In general, we can note the high level of legal training among employees of election committees,” expert of all-Russia suffrage protection organisation Civil Control Oleg Ivannikov commented on the situation at polling stations.

More than 5,000 observers are monitoring mayoral elections in the city. Two policemen are on duty at each polling station to maintain order.

Mayoral elections have one round. Eleven candidates are running for mayor of the largest Russian municipal entity. A simple majority of votes is enough for a candidate to win in mayoral elections, no turnout threshold is set. The voting will end at 8pm local time (1pm GMT) on Sunday.

Early mayoral elections were announced in the city of Novosibirsk after Vladimir Gorodetsky who had occupied the post since 2000 stepped down ahead of time on January 9, 2014 and was appointed as deputy governor on the same day. After dismissal of Governor of Novosibirsk Region Vasily Yurchenko Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed the former mayor as acting regional governor.

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