Diplomats have set up 369 overseas polling stations, enabling about 1.8 million Russian passport holders to vote in the December 4 parliamentary elections outside of Russia, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
“Embassies and consulates have set up 369 polling stations within the legally established period,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
“The voting abroad is supervised by 24 ambassadors, 49 consular generals and 55 minister-counselors. In total, over 2,000 Russian diplomats are engaged in the election process abroad,” he stated.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Russia has about 1.812 million voters abroad as of July 1, including 1.623 million permanently residing in foreign states.
The first Russians overseas to vote in the December 4 parliamentary elections will be about 3,000 people living in New Zealand, where polling stations will open at 23:00 Moscow time on December 3.
Russians living in San Francisco will be the last to vote as elections in their city will begin on December 5, Monday, Moscow time.