11:37 MSK: International observers have no objections to the electoral process in Russia, an international observer from Poland told RIA Novosti Sunday.
11:30 MSK: Russian citizens can cast their votes in Belgium at two polling stations at the Russian Embassy in Brussels and at the Consulate General in Antwerp.
11:04 MSK: Nearly 700 international observers are working at the polling stations in Russia’s regions, where a total of 78 per cent of voters will cast their ballot, according to the deputy chairman of the CEC, Leonid Ivlev.
10:50 MSK: Fancy ballot boxes have been installed at the polling stations in Tula region; they are made of the famous Tula gingerbread or ‘pryanik’. This was reported today by the chairman of the Russia’s CEC Vladimir Churov.
10:31 MSK: At the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) building an Information Center “Elections 2011” has started its work. Two thousand Russian and foreign journalists got their credentials for working at the center. 61 TV correspondents, 26 radio reporters, 30 news agencies and over 40 print media will be covering the State Duma elections, according to the CEC spokesperson.
10:22 MSK: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana arrived at a ballot station located in Moscow School No. 1118. The president had previously voted here during the regional parliamentary elections of 2009.
10:05 MSK: A polling station has opened in Sudan, located at the Russian embassy in Khartoum.
10:00 MSK: Five per cent of Russians have so far cast their votes.
09:55 MSK: Voting for the State Duma elections is being held in Thailand at two polling stations. One is on the premises of the Russian embassy in Bangkok and another at the Honorary Consulate of Russia mobile polling booth, which is stationed at the Royal Cliff hotel in Pattaya. At the moment in Bangkok more than 70 people have voted, and over 50 in Pattaya .
09:20 MSK: Seven voting stations have opened for Russian citizens in Belarus. The Minsk polling station is located on the territory of the Russian Embassy. Another is in the city of Brest, on the territory of the Consulate General.
09:00 MSK: Polling stations have opened in the Russian exclave of the Kaliningrad Region. As of now, all voting stations are open throughout the country, which spreads over nine time zones. The Kaliningrad Region began voting an hour after Moscow and nine hours after Chukotka and Kamchatka.
08:20 MSK: Electronic voting systems are being used in Abakan, the capital of Khakassia , for the first time in the history of elections in the region, according to secretary of the regional election committee Vladimir Togochakov.
08:00 MSK: Three thousand three hundred and seventy-four polling stations have opened in Moscow on December 4, mostly located in schools. Citizens can also cast their votes at railway stations and hospitals.
08:00 MSK: Ballot stations open in the European part of Russia including Moscow.
07:40 MSK: In the Amur region almost 20 per cent of voters have cast their ballots in the first four hours of the polls, the regional Election Commission reports.
07:23 MSK: United Russia reports its office building in the city of Bryansk, Western Russia, has been attacked. According to the report on the party website a group of people attacked their office with petrol bombs causing a fire.
06:30 MSK: “Golos” (Russian for “voice” or “vote”) NGO is claiming that its observers have not been allowed to attend voting at several ballot stations in the city of Tomsk, Western Siberia. According to “Golos” the Election Commission representative at the stations say they have been instructed by telephone not to allow “Golos” observers in.
06:15 MSK: Witnesses in the city of Khabarovsk report that some parties are still distributing their election materials in the streets thus violating election law. The Liberal Democratic Party, the Fair Russia Party and the Communist Party are named as violators.
06:05 MSK: The rest of Western Siberia and some parts of the Ural region are opening ballot stations for the voters.
05:40 MSK: Almost 14 per cent have voted in the Kolyma region in the first four hours of the parliamentary elections, a spokesman for the Election Commission reports.
05:26 MSK: The turnout in the Primorsky region, where 6 per cent of voters arrived in the first two hours of polling, is lower than in the parliamentary elections of 2007, says the regional Election Commission.
05:00 MSK: Ballot stations are opening in some parts of Western Siberia including the Novosibirsk, Altai and Omsk regions.
04:25 MSK: Russia`s first vice-premier, Igor Shuvalov has cast his vote on Russky Island in Vladivostok, Russia`s Far East, his press service reports.
04:15 MSK: The Election Commission reports that in the Chukotka region more than 22 per cent of registered voters have shown up during the first two hours of the elections.
04:00 MSK: The Krasnoyarsk region and the republics of Khakassia and the Tyva open ballot stations.
03:31 MSK: According to the Election Commission, voters from northern regions of Russia`s Far East are voting more actively than in the parliamentary elections of 2007. The commission also says that “the elections are taking place in a quite atmosphere” and that no violations have been reported so far.
03:15 MSK: In the Kolyma region more than 6.5 per cent of voters have cast their votes in the first two hours of polling, the local Election Commission reports.
03:01 MSK: More of Eastern Siberia begins voting. Ballot stations are opening in the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia.
02:33 MSK: Witnesses from the city of Khabarovsk report that despite the early hour there are a lot of voters at ballot stations.
02:00 MSK: Ballot stations are opening in Eastern Siberia including the Amur region and Yakutia.
01:36 MSK: Sakhalin Election Commission confirms that 316 ballot stations are currently functioning on the islands and 142 additional ballot stations are situated on vessels sailing in Sakhalin waters.
01:03 MSK: Russia`s Far Eastern regions begin voting. Ballot stations are opening in the Khabarovsk region, the Primorsky region and the Sakhalin region.
00:01 MSK: 57 ballot stations are opening in Chukotka in Russia’s Far East.
00:00 MSK: Hello. It is December 4 – the day of Russia’s parliamentary elections. Seven political parties are competing for seats in the sixth State Duma. Stay tuned for the latest updates.