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Pre-election silence begins in Russia ahead of September 8 elections

The election blackout begins in every region at midnight local time on Saturday, September 7

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/. The pre-election silence day, during which all campaigning is prohibited, began in Russia ahead of the single voting day of September 8.

On Sunday, elections of various levels will take place in all Russian regions.

The election blackout begins in every region at midnight local time on Saturday, September 7. All kinds of campaigning, including party events and rallies, handout of leaflets and political advertising on TV and radio are prohibited.

There is no need to remove campaign posters that were posted prior to the pre-election silence, on the condition that they are not located within the 50-meter zone around a polling station.

Internet media are not obliged to delete previously published political advertising.

Those restrictions will be in force during the voting day itself and will remain in place until polling stations in this region are closed.

Media coverage of election preparations and voting day events is not restricted by the law.

"Both on Saturday and Sunday, information on how the vote proceeds - namely, about the vote itself and some other issues related to how the elections are organized - can be released freely according to the principles of impartiality and credibility," Russian Central Election Commission secretary Maya Grishina told TASS.

On the single voting day of September 8, 2019, Russia will hold more than 5,000 elections. Among them are elections to 13 legislative assemblies. Six regions will elect their governors, 22 administrative centers will elect city parliaments, and three regional capitals will vote for heads of municipalities. Apart from that, four single-mandate districts (in the Khabarovsk, Novgorod, Sverdlovsk and Oryol regions) will hold by-elections to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament).

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