Russia has about 110 million eligible voters, including 108 million living inside the country, the country’s top election official said on Saturday.
Russia, a country of about 142 million, will be electing parliament on December 4.
Vladimir Churov, head of the Central Election Commission, said about two million voters outside Russia were registered with the local Russian consulates and would be able to cast their votes together with those holders of Russian passports who are not registered.
He also said at least 600 foreign observers would be monitoring the elections together with half a million of observers from Russian political parties.
He added that Russia in turn expected the United States, Germany and other countries to invite 600-700 observers to their elections, including from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR).
The ruling United Russia party led by then-president Vladimir Putin won the previous parliamentary elections in 2007. International observers from the OSCE and the Council of Europe said at the time that the election was unfair and and “failed to meet many OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections.”