KURSK, September 6. /TASS/. The voter turnout at the gubernatorial election in Russia’s borderline Kursk Region was nearly 47% by eight in the evening, the local election commission said.

"As many as 363,838, or 46.94% of eligible voters, have cast their votes," it wrote on its Telegram channel.

As many as 55,040 people took part in the voting online.

In 2019, when the gubernatorial election was held during one day, the voter turnout was around 41%.

Amid the counterterrorist operation and federal-level emergency situation regimes that are in force in the Kursk Region, nearly a third of voters took part in the election during early voting from August 28 through September 5. Apart from that, twenty-one extraterritorial polling stations from evacuees from the Kursk Region’s border areas operated from Aigust 30 through September 2 in 14 Russian regions.

The candidates for Kursk Region governor are: acting governor Alexey Smirnov (nominated by the ruling United Russia party), member of the regional legislature Alexey Bobovnikov (Communist Party of the Russian Federation, or CPRF), member of the regional legislature Gennady Bayev (Just Russia - For Truth), and one more local lawmaker Alexey Tomanov (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, or LDPR).

The Single Voting Day will be held throughout Russia on September 6-8, when almost 4,000 election campaigns will find out if all their hard work will pay off. Direct elections for top executive offices will take place in 21 regions, while in four more regions, namely Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area (Yugra), and Crimea, they will be elected by local parliaments. Local legislative elections will take place in 13 Russian regions. Three one-seat constituencies will hold by-elections to the State Duma (lower house of Russia’s parliament).