On the eve of its fifth parliamentary election, Russia tightened security and prolonged the working hours of related departments in a bid to ensure that Sunday's State Duma poll runs without a hitch.
Party supporters ceased campaigning Friday in accordance with the law. Any campaigning on the last day before the polling stations open is prohibited to let voters make a conscious choice without external pressure.
Moscow authorities, parties and movements have agreed there will be no mass functions Sunday, a representative of Moscow mayor's office, Mikhail Solomentsev, told reporters earlier.
Police will pay special attention to "the unlawful use of election posters, unauthorized demonstrations and distribution of handouts with calls for voting for this or that party," sources at the Interior Ministry said.
"During each election campaign police have to address the problem of illegal election technologies, mostly violations of electioneering rules and illegal printing of election ads that mislead voters," First Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin said earlier.
Police have tightened security checks in recent days. A resident of Khasavyurt in Dagestan was detained Friday on suspicion of planning a terror attack on election day.
A search of the suspect's home unearthed a suicide bomber's belt, Interfax quoted a spokesman for the Khasavyurt city police department as saying.
Over the weekend, hundreds of Russian courts will stay open to receive written complaints in connection with the election.
Voters, candidates, electioneering groups, other public organizations and observers may lodge complaints about decisions and actions that violate the rights of citizens.
Dmitry Kuzmin, mayor of the south capital city of Stavropol and head of the Just Russia party's Stavropol candidate list, had his registration in the election cancelled by Russia's Supreme Court because of alleged voter bribes, a breach of election law.
Around 144 polling stations have been set up for 105,000 people held at pretrial detention centers. "We expect that at least 90 percent of the eligible voters among the arrestees will take part in the elections," deputy service director Vladimir Semenyuk said.
Over 15,000 calls have been made to the State Duma election campaign hotline, Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Vladimir Churov told international observers Friday.
However, two-thirds of the calls concerned social issues rather than the elections. As for issues directly related with the poll, most people called to find out about voters' lists, Churov said.
Three organizations, the Public Opinion Foundation, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center and the Our Elections organization, have been permitted by the CEC to conduct exit polls.
The Public Opinion Foundation plans to question 80,000 people at 800 polling stations in 564 cities, towns and other populated areas in 76 Russian regions for its exit poll Sunday, its president Alexander Oslon was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
One question will be asked: for which of the parties they have voted. The final information will be sent to the media at around 9p.m. Moscow time (1800 GMT).
Participating in the Sunday election will be 11 political parties -- United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Just Russia, the right-of-center Right Forces Union SPS, Yabloko, the Patriots of Russia, the Democratic Party, the Civil Force Party, the Agrarian Party and the Party of Social Justice. However, previous opinion polls indicated that only four of these parties -- United Russia, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Just Russia -- could clear the seven-percent threshold to enter parliament.
Some 4,600 candidates have been registered on the federal lists. An average of 10 candidates will contest each seat in the State Duma.
Around 96,000 polling stations have been set up for the elections, including 360 in 141 other countries.
On Sunday the first Russian voters will show up at the polls in the Far East Kamchatka Territory at 8 a.m. local time (2000 GMT Saturday).
The first overseas polling stations will open in New Zealand at10 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday (1900 GMT). The last ones will open in the United States -- in Seattle and Los Angeles.
Source: Xinhua
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