Parliamentary elections held in Russia

Russians vote today in parliamentary elections. Polling stations in the Russian capital Moscow opened at 8 a. m. local time, RIA Novosti reports.

The first exit poll data are due to be released as the last polling stations close, with initial official results expected in the early hours of Monday, the news agency informs.

A total of 110 million Russian citizens, including 2 million expatriates scattered around the world, are eligible to vote in Sunday’s election to fill the 450 seats of the State Duma for the next five years, according to the Central Electoral Commission.

Head of the commission Vladimir Churov said on December 3 that about 500,000 representatives of the competing parties will monitor the vote on Sunday. He added that they will be joined by 700 election observers from international organizations and foreign countries.

 Seven parties are trying to win the ballot, they are the pro-Kremlin ruling United Russia Party, the Just Russia Party, the Communist Party, the nationalistic Liberal-Democratic Party, the United Russian Democratic Party Yabloko, the Kremlin-backed liberal Right Course Party and the Patriots of Russia political party. 

Several scandals, including that surrounding the Golos non-governmental organization that was accused of electoral law violations, occured on the cusp of the elections