A number of regions showed high turnout in the first days of voting

In several regions, voters showed high turnout already in the first two days of voting, Vedomosti noted. The leaders among the “old regions” based on the results of the first day of elections for heads of constituent entities were the Kemerovo region (46.71%), Chukotka (31.10%) and Yakutia (20.39%). In Kuzbass and Yakutia, deputies to the legislative assembly are also elected.

In 2018, the final turnout for elections in the Kemerovo region, which took place on the same day, was 66.3%, in Chukotka – 60.2%, and in Yakutia – 50.7%. New regions took four of the top five places in terms of turnout in legislative elections by September 10: Kherson region (58.42%), LPR (42.74%), Zaporozhye region (37.94%).

As noted by the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Ella Pamfilova, the highest turnout on the first day of voting in the by-elections to the State Duma on the first day was recorded in Karachay-Cherkessia (27.37%), in the elections to the legislative bodies of the DPR – 59.4%. Voters showed the least activity on the first day of voting in the Altai Territory (8.69%), Pskov Region (10.6%) and Khakassia (10.29%). Of the legislative assemblies, the outsiders were the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (7.42%) and the Yaroslavl Region (10.5%).

Amendments to the law on basic guarantees of voting rights, allowing voting to take place over several days, were adopted in 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, after voting on amendments to the Constitution took place for a week. Already in September 2020, elections in a number of regions lasted three days, and the parliamentary elections in 2021 took the same amount of time. On the first day, the turnout was 16.85%, after two days it was 31.5%, the final one was 51 .72%.

In Moscow, the turnout in the mayoral elections was 20.7%, and according to the results of the second day – 32.76%. “We can already say that the turnout is higher in comparison with previous municipal elections, especially with the mayoral elections in 2018 and 2013. already higher,” said Vadim Kovalev, head of the Public Headquarters for Observing Elections in Moscow. In 2018, the turnout was 30.9%, in 2013 – 32.03%.

The increase in turnout in Moscow was influenced by the introduction of remote electronic voting (DEG), deputy head of headquarters Alexander Asafov told Vedomosti. “Multi-day voting and DEGs led to an increase in turnout because it is convenient. We saw this in Moscow both in the 2022 municipal elections and in the State Duma elections,” he noted.

Turnout for DEGs and traditional voting in all regions is still counted separately. By 11:00 am, 132,680 voters had used the DEG in the capital. According to data on the morning of September 10, the turnout for the DEG in Moscow alone was about 2.3 million people. In Moscow, pre-registration is not required to participate in the DEG.

Political scientist Alexander Kynev also noted that this year for the first time there was no campaign against the DEG, which was previously waged by the non-systemic opposition. There were no calls, as before, to vote in person on the main election day (September 10): previously, the communists actively called for this in order to stop supposedly possible “manipulation” at polling stations at night, Vedomosti wrote.

President of the Center for Political Technologies Boris Makarenko believes that citizens are getting used to three-day voting. “People got used to going on Sundays and it took time to change habits. In addition, EDC always falls on one of the last warm weekends, when people go to their dachas. It is summer residents and barbecue owners who actively vote on Friday,” the expert sums up.