1.8 million Russians from around the world are casting their vote for the parliamentary elections on Sunday, while some polling stations have already closed, others are just opening.
From Japan and New Zealand to the Middle East and Europe, as well as in the former Soviet republics and in the United States, eligible Russian voters are casting their votes from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. according to the local time.
Russia’s Central Election Commission said on Sunday some 50,000 Russians abroad had already cast their absentee ballots.
ASIAN POLLING STATIONS CLOSED
At 8:00 p.m. local time in several Asian countries, hundreds of Russians made it to either polling stations or voted a couple of days earlier through “mobile polling stations.”
The polling stations in Tokyo have already closed. According to the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, 471 eligible voters cast their vote, which is 20 percent more than the last State Duma elections in 2007. Among those voting at the Russian Embassy was Russia’s national men’s volleyball team, who just a few hours before voting won the World Championship Cup in Japan.
Polling stations in China’s capital, Beijing, have also closed. The Russian Embassy in Beijing said 980 people voted, with an especially large turnout from university students.
On December 2, an absentee polling station was set up in a restaurant in the Vietnamese resort city of Mui Ne (200 kilometers east of Ho Chi Minh City), where Russians were able to cast their ballots from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., two days before the polls officially opened in Russia.
FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS
In Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe, some 7,000 eligible Russian voters cast their votes, the majority of them (over 5,000) being military personnel. The polling stations have also closed in Tajikistan.
The Russian Navy base in Ukraine’s Sevastopol on the Black Sea continues to see streams of sailors and their families voting. There are around 22,000 eligible Russian voters in Sevastopol. As opposed to most registered voters, the sailors do not show their address, but the ship they are serving on. The diving center is being used for the polling station. Polls will close in Ukraine at 10:00 p.m. Moscow time [18:00 GMT], one hour after the last polling station in Russia, in the exclave of Kaliningrad, closes.
In the Baltic republic of Estonia, according to the Russian Embassy in Tallinn, there are more than 120,000 eligible voters. In the previous parliamentary elections in 2007, some 24,000 out of a total of 110,000 eligible voters cast their ballots.
In Latvia, more than 4,000 Russians have already cast their vote. There are more than 30,000 eligible Russian voters living in Latvia. In the neighboring Baltic state of Lithuania, only 1,700 Russians cast their ballot as of 11:00 GMT, according to the Russian Embassy in Vilnius. There are 13,500 eligible Russian voters living in the country.
EUROPE AND MIDDLE EAST
Polling stations throughout Europe are seeing active participation by Russian voters; however, the embassies have said voter participation is expected to increase in the late afternoon. The Russian Embassy in Paris has opened its buffet to Russians, where they can buy Russian cuisine at reasonable prices, as well as a shot of vodka for 1.5 euros.
The Russian Embassy in Rome said there were 1,800 eligible voters in the country either on vacation or on business.
The largest constituent number of voters in Europe is in Germany with 400,000 eligible voters and Moldova with 300,000. There are some 170,000 eligible Russian voters in Israel.
Russians are also casting their ballots in Syria and Lebanon, where tension is heightened because of the unrest in the two countries. Some 3,000 eligible Russians are presently in Syria, and another 900 in Libya.
The Russian Embassy in Damascus has asked voters to organize themselves in groups of 50 and rent buses to the polling stations in Syria’s capital for safety reasons. The embassy said it would pick up the tab for the buses.
Parties and regions for State Duma elections
UNITED STATES AND CANADA
Polling stations have just opened in North America and voting will continue until 8:00 a.m. Monday Moscow time because of the time difference. The U.S. west coast is 12 hours behind Moscow.
The Russian Embassy in Washington said it has no information on the number of eligible voters in the United States.