MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. A technical glitch took place due to hacker attacks on the first day of parliamentary elections in Moscow and online voting terminals were out of order for a short time, Olga Kirillova, chairman of the Moscow Election Commission, said on Saturday.
"There was indeed a technical glitch yesterday… Our terminals have been malfunctioning for a short period. However, according to experts, this could have been caused by enemy attacks on information systems," she told correspondents.
Kirillova specified that the operational activities of online voting terminals at polling stations in Moscow were fully restored within 20 minutes.
"I was myself at the site of one of the polling stations in Afimall [shopping center] when the technical glitch had occurred, I saw how a fairly large number of voters suddenly lining up. But very shortly, the ‘queue thawed’ and we apologized to those waiting," she noted.
The single voting day to elect lawmakers to the 9th Russian State Duma takes place on September 18-20. For the first time ever, residents of the recently incorporated Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, are participating in legislative elections for the lower house of the Russian parliament.
A total of ten parties are taking part in the election: United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), the Liberal Democratic Party of the Russian Federation (LDPR), New People, A Just Russia - For Truth, the Party of Pensioners for Social Justice, the Communists of Russia, Rodina, the Party of Direct Democracy, as well as the Greens Ecological Party.
Elections for regional legislative bodies are also be held in 39 Russian constituent entities, alongside elections for regional leaders. In eight regions, the leaders will be elected directly, while in three regions, they will be chosen by the regional parliaments. A total of 23,000 seats will be filled.