MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. First Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Central Election Commission Nikolai Bulayev said he expects a high voter turnout at the polls held across Russia on Sunday.
"This morning I was almost the first one to vote at my polling station, people there were in a good mood, there were many voters during the opening. I hope the voter turnout will be rather high," Bulayev told reporters.
The official voiced hope that the polls would be held calmly and without any provocations.
On September 8 - a single voting day, Russia will hold more than 5,000 elections in 85 regions. Among them are elections to 13 legislative assemblies, while 16 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 (lower house of parliament).