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Municipal straw poll begins in Moscow

The polling stations will be working through to 10 p.m.

MOSCOW, June 08. /ITAR-TASS/. All 500 polling stations opened in Moscow at 08:00 for the straw poll in preparation for the elections to the city legislature (the Moscow Duma) due in September. The candidates will test themselves prior to the elections, and Muscovites get the chance to learn more about the candidates, press service of the My Moscow civil initiative, the organiser, said on Sunday.

For the past eleven years, Moscow did not have local parliamentary elections using the majority system, which will be the approach at the elections on September 14, on the single voting day in the country. During the past years, Moscow used a mixed election system, where 50% of the candidates were nominated by parties, and the others were to be elected in one-mandate constituencies.

“In the morning all the polling stations opened, and first voters have participated in the poll already,” My Moscow’s press secretary Svetlana Averina says. The polling stations will be working through to 10 p.m. Any Muscovite with a valid registration may participate in the voting.

Social experts have suggested printing 725,000 bulletins - ten percent of the Muscovites having the right to vote.

Early results will be published on the night of June 9, and the official results are due on June 20.