Russia goes to the polls
euronews (in English)
2016-09-18
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The governing United Russia party is expected to win even greater dominance over Russia’s lower house in a parliamentary election on Sunday.
Voting got underway at 2000 GMT on the Chukotka Peninsula opposite Alaska and will wrap up in Kaliningrad, Russia’s most westerly point.
People can cast their vote here up until 1800 GMT on Sunday.
President Vladimir Putin cast his vote in Moscow, at a polling station set up in Russia’s Academy of Science.
The first exit polls are due at 1800 GMT on Sunday evening.
Turnout
An estimated 110 million people are registered to vote across Russia’s eleven time zones.
The vote is being closely watched to see how many turn out to vote.
Some opinion polls have suggested apathy is widespread.
United Russia
United Russia holds 238 of the 450 seats in the Duma.
The party also dominates the more than 80 regional parliaments.
It draws on the support of the other three parties in the federal Duma.
It also benefits from its association with 63-year-old Putin, who has a personal approval rate of around 80 percent after 17 years in power as either president or prime minister.
The opposition
Other parties are hoping to clinch at least two dozen seats.
The pro-Kremlin Russian Liberal Democratic Party, led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky has 56 seats in the lower house.
Gennady Zhyuganov is the leader of Russia’s pro-Kremlin Communist Party. The party is polling second to United Russia.
Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov’s People’s Freedom Party is also in contention, along with Yabloko led by Grigory Yavlinsky.
The opposition hopes it can win at least two dozen seats.
Polls suggest they are facing an uphill battle to do so.
A test?
The election for the Duma is being seen as a dry run for President Vladimir Putin’s expected presidential campaign in 2018.
Analysts say it is likely to show support for Putin is holding up, despite sanctions and a profound economic slowdown.
Putin has said it is too early to say if he will go for what would be a fourth presidential term in 2018.
If he did, and won, he would be in power until 2024, longer than Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
Sunday’s vote is also being seen as a measure of how well the Kremlin can oversee trouble-free elections.
It will be the first parliamentary vote since 2011, when allegations of ballot-rigging sparked big protests against Putin in the capital.
Anxious to avoid a repeat of 2011’s street protests, Kremlin officials have tried to assure Russians that the vote will be the cleanest yet in the country’s modern history.
Voting got underway at 2000 GMT on the Chukotka Peninsula opposite Alaska and will wrap up in Kaliningrad, Russia’s most westerly point.
People can cast their vote here up until 1800 GMT on Sunday.
President Vladimir Putin cast his vote in Moscow, at a polling station set up in Russia’s Academy of Science.
The first exit polls are due at 1800 GMT on Sunday evening.
Turnout
An estimated 110 million people are registered to vote across Russia’s eleven time zones.
The vote is being closely watched to see how many turn out to vote.
Some opinion polls have suggested apathy is widespread.
United Russia
United Russia holds 238 of the 450 seats in the Duma.
The party also dominates the more than 80 regional parliaments.
It draws on the support of the other three parties in the federal Duma.
It also benefits from its association with 63-year-old Putin, who has a personal approval rate of around 80 percent after 17 years in power as either president or prime minister.
The opposition
Other parties are hoping to clinch at least two dozen seats.
The pro-Kremlin Russian Liberal Democratic Party, led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky has 56 seats in the lower house.
Gennady Zhyuganov is the leader of Russia’s pro-Kremlin Communist Party. The party is polling second to United Russia.
Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov’s People’s Freedom Party is also in contention, along with Yabloko led by Grigory Yavlinsky.
The opposition hopes it can win at least two dozen seats.
Polls suggest they are facing an uphill battle to do so.
A test?
The election for the Duma is being seen as a dry run for President Vladimir Putin’s expected presidential campaign in 2018.
Analysts say it is likely to show support for Putin is holding up, despite sanctions and a profound economic slowdown.
Putin has said it is too early to say if he will go for what would be a fourth presidential term in 2018.
If he did, and won, he would be in power until 2024, longer than Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
Sunday’s vote is also being seen as a measure of how well the Kremlin can oversee trouble-free elections.
It will be the first parliamentary vote since 2011, when allegations of ballot-rigging sparked big protests against Putin in the capital.
Anxious to avoid a repeat of 2011’s street protests, Kremlin officials have tried to assure Russians that the vote will be the cleanest yet in the country’s modern history.
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