Islam Times - Elections for State Duma, regional bodies begin in Russia

Islam Times - Elections have begun in Russia for the State Duma, which is the lower house of the Russian parliament, as well as dozens of municipal and regional bodies.

The voting, which will take about 22 hours in all of Russia’s 11 time zones, started in the far eastern region of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at 08:00 am local time on Sunday (2000 GMT Saturday).

More than 110 million registered voters are to take part in the vote.

Fourteen political parties are taking part in the parliamentary elections. Elected members of the State Duma will serve a term of five years.

The United Russia (UR) Party, led by President Vladimir Putin’s long–time ally, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, has 238 (53%) of the 450 Duma seats and holds the majority in more than 80 regional parliaments.

The UR Party is the most popular party in the country, ahead of the second-place Communist Party, with around a popularity of 20 percent.

Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and up to 1,500 journalists from 154 media outlets, including 85 foreign ones, are covering the Russian elections.

The first exit polls for the ongoing polls are due on Sunday at 1800 GMT.