MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. More than 100,000 people from 28 Russian regions have already participated in the online vote, which began on the federal voting platform on the first day of the Russian presidential election, according to the online vote monitoring portal.

As of 04:20 Moscow time, 100,884 ballots have already been issued to voters from 28 regions who earlier applied to participate. Therefore, the turnout for the federal platform is currently at 2%.

Overall, 4.76 million people plan to vote via the federal platform.

The upcoming presidential election will be the first time that voters will have the option of casting their ballots electronically, with online voting available in 29 regions, comprising one-third of the country’s constituent regions. Residents of 28 regions can vote online via the federal voting platform, while the capital Moscow will have its own system.

The Russian Federation Council, or upper house of parliament, officially designated March 17, 2024 as the day of the presidential election. The Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) then announced that voting will take place over three days on March 15-17. Four candidates will vie for the top office, namely New People party nominee Vladislav Davankov; self-nominated candidate and incumbent President Vladimir Putin; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) nominee Leonid Slutsky; and Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) nominee Nikolay Kharitonov.