The counting of votes in the parliamentary elections has begun in the easternmost regions of Russia. Polling stations in Chukotka and Kamchatka closed at 8:00 p.m. local time and local commissions began processing ballots, Interfax reported at 11:02 a.m. Moscow time.
These are the first regions in which the three-day voting for a new composition of the State Duma has ended due to the time difference. Voting continues in the rest of Russia, with the first major national results expected after polling stations in the western parts of the country close.
According to regional election commissions, two hours before the end of voting, turnout in Chukotka had reached 57.78%, practically at the level of the 2021 parliamentary elections, when it was 57.69%. In Kamchatka, as of 6:00 p.m. local time, 46.77% of a total of 225,107 voters had voted. In the previous parliamentary vote, turnout there was 42.6%.
Meanwhile, Russia's Central Election Commission announced this morning that turnout in all elections held in parallel in the country had already exceeded 45%. The Chairperson of the Central Election Commission Ella Pamfilova also stated that over 6 million people had used various forms of electronic voting.
By 09:55 Moscow time, about 3.4 million people, or 85% of those who had previously registered for this method of participation, had cast their votes through the federal remote electronic voting platform alone. The system is used in 32 regions, while Moscow has its own platform.
Current data does not yet show the distribution of seats in the 450-member State Duma. Voting is ending in stages according to time zones, after which the Central Election Commission will begin publishing interim results.