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Russians vote in presidential election across 11 time zones
110 milion voters eligible
Russians are casting their ballots in the presidential election, as polls opened from the Far East region of Kamchatka to the western exclave of Kaliningrad. Eight candidates are vying for the post of president.
The vote will last for a total of 22 hours, as Russians across all the country’s 11 time zones, spanning from Kamchatka and Chukotka in the East to the westernmost enclave of Kaliningrad, will be heading to polls on Sunday.
First polling stations welcomed early voters at 8:00 am local time [20:00 GMT] on Saturday in Kamchatka and Chukotka regions, followed by the island of Sakhalin an hour later. In Moscow, the voting started nine hours later, at 5:00 am GMT, and will proceed until the polls close at 8:00 pm [17:00 GMT].
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Russians vote in presidential election across 11 time zones
Published time: 17 Mar, 2018 23:14
Edited time: 18 Mar, 2018 12:10
© Evgenya Novozhenina / Sputnik
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Russians are casting their ballots in the presidential election, as polls opened from the Far East region of Kamchatka to the western exclave of Kaliningrad. Eight candidates are vying for the post of president.
The vote will last for a total of 22 hours, as Russians across all the country’s 11 time zones, spanning from Kamchatka and Chukotka in the East to the westernmost enclave of Kaliningrad, will be heading to polls on Sunday.
First polling stations welcomed early voters at 8:00 am local time [20:00 GMT] on Saturday in Kamchatka and Chukotka regions, followed by the island of Sakhalin an hour later. In Moscow, the voting started nine hours later, at 5:00 am GMT, and will proceed until the polls close at 8:00 pm [17:00 GMT].
The incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is running as an independent, the Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin, the liberal Yabloko party candidate Grigory Yavlinsky, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian All-People's Union candidate Sergey Baburin, Maksim Suraykin from the Communists of Russia, and Civic Initative’s Ksenia Sobchak have all cast their votes at polling stations in Moscow. Boris Titov, the Party of Growth candidate, voted along with his family in the village of Abrau-Durso in the southern Krasnodar region.
Voters in hard-to-reach places – and even in space – had their say in choosing the president, having cast their ballots in advance. More than 170,000 Russians voted in remote parts of the Far East, Siberia and Northern Caucasus. Polling stations were set up in seven Polar stations in the Antarctic.
For those out at sea, polling stations were open on 218 ships, including fishing boats, transport and scientific ships. More than 7,600 sailors on duty used their right to vote.
A Russian cosmonaut at the International Space Station also participated in the polls. In a video call with the Central Election Commission, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov said he “expressed his civil position” and cast his ballot despite being in orbit. More than 8,000 staff at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan voted as well.
As of 09:00 GMT Sunday, some 34.72 percent of the electorate had turned out at the polls, according to the commission's figures.
First results will be announced no sooner than 9:00 pm Moscow time [18:00 GMT], after the voting ends in Kaliningrad, which is an hour behind Moscow time.
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