From September 18 to 20, Russia is holding parliamentary elections and campaigns combined with them. Residents of four new regions are taking part in them for the first time. Based on the results of the voting, 20,700 deputy mandates and leadership positions will be distributed. Observers from 12 international organizations, including representatives of the CIS, CSTO and BRICS, are monitoring the process.
The President of Russia on the eve called these elections largely decisive and said they must be held in strict accordance with the law.
Such a large-scale campaign is being held in the conditions of the special military operation, Putin noted. Residents of Donbass and Novorossiya are for the first time since reunification with Russia electing deputies to the State Duma. The president expressed confidence that both soldiers and officers who are now carrying out difficult combat work will take the most active part in the voting. He called their courage and loyalty to the Fatherland an example for the whole country.
Putin also expressed confidence that the choice of Russians will confirm the unity of the people and the futility of attempts by anyone to undermine the statehood and the socio-political system of the country. The most worthy, competent candidates, true patriots, will of course win.
The president appealed to fellow citizens with a request to be sure to exercise their constitutional right, to make a considered, responsible decision, so that the election results confirm the maturity and resilience of Russian society. This will become a common answer to those who want to weaken Russia, hold back its development, deprive it of sovereignty and the right to independently determine its own destiny. Participation in the elections is a common contribution to Russia's victory, he stressed.
Ten parties are competing for the State Duma: United Russia, LDPR, the Direct Democracy Party, the Greens, A Just Russia, Rodina, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Party of Pensioners, Communists of Russia and New People. In total, they have nominated 4,500 candidates, of whom more than 500 are participants in the special military operation.
There are 450 deputy mandates. Half will be distributed according to the party lists of those that clear the five-percent threshold, and the remaining winners will be determined in single-mandate districts.
In parallel, elections are being held for the heads of 11 constituent entities of the Federation. In Mordovia, Tuva, Chechnya, Belgorod, Bryansk, Penza, Tver and Ulyanovsk regions they are direct, while in Dagestan, North Ossetia - Alania and Karachay-Cherkessia they are through local parliaments.
In addition, in 39 regions the composition of local legislative bodies will be determined: in Adygea, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Karelia, Mordovia, Chechnya, Chuvashia, Altai, Kamchatka, Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Primorsky and Stavropol territories, Amur, Astrakhan, Vologda, Kaliningrad, Kirov, Kursk, Leningrad, Lipetsk, Moscow, Murmansk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novgorod, Omsk, Orenburg, Oryol, Pskov, Samara, Sverdlovsk, Tambov, Tver and Tyumen regions (with the participation of voters of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area - Yugra and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area), St. Petersburg, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area - Yugra and Chukotka.
They will also vote for candidates for deputies of representative bodies of municipalities of the administrative centers (capitals) of ten constituent entities of the Federation: Ufa, Nalchik, Petrozavodsk, Saransk, Grozny, Perm, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo, Saratov, Khanty-Mansiysk.
There are a total of 111,037,047 voters. Of these, 1,816,504 are outside Russia. In addition, 502 Russians with voting rights live in the city of Baikonur.
Remote electronic voting (DEG) is provided for in 32 regions. To do this, from August 3 to September 14 it was necessary to fill out the corresponding application on the Gosuslugi portal. Muscovites do not require preliminary registration.
As the head of the CEC, Ella Pamfilova, reported, this service is available to more than four million people. If someone wanted to vote through the DEG system but then changed their mind, they can do so in the traditional way within their own electoral district.
For the first time, those responsible for evacuation and countering provocations will appear at polling stations.
The CEC has also ensured conditions for military voting. According to Pamfilova, the expression of will by soldiers will not become an additional danger factor for them.
For those who are abroad, 333 polling stations will open - in 152 countries.
These elections differ from all previous ones in a whole range of factors, Pamfilova stressed. And not only because they are being held in extreme conditions, when the malicious Western world has turned against us. Firstly, for the first time four of our native, beloved regions reunited with us (the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions) are taking part in them. They will hold elections to the State Duma. But it is also very important that these elections are being held in the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia, and the head of the CEC is confident that in these elections our entire people will demonstrate unity aimed at ensuring that every voter can cast their vote for the one they trust and support in the interests of our country.
At the same time, she noted that three-day voting has already become traditional for Russians. Among other things, according to the head of the CEC, this makes it easier for the authorities to ensure the security of the electoral process.