Polls open for Russian Presidential election, projected turnout at 71%
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Polls open in Russia for the presidential elections, which will extend for three days, marking the first election since the reforms of 2020.
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A Russian serviceman leaves a voting booth at a polling station during a presidential election in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, March 15, 2024. (AP)
Polling stations have opened across Russia for the 2024 presidential election, with President Vladimir Putin contending against three opponents.
The voting will span three days until Sunday, and this will mark the first Russian presidential election since the 2020 constitutional reform. The reform had imposed a limit of two terms for any president. This also nullified Putin's former terms, enabling him to run again.
In this election, four candidates vie for the six-year presidential term. Putin, running independently, competes against Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party, and Vladislav Davankov representing the New People party.
Russians in 28 regions can vote online via the country’s electronic system, with Moscow residents exempt from special requests. A high turnout of around 71% is projected, with early voting already underway in remote regions, recording approximately two million ballots cast according to the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTSIOM) pollster.
EU states to decide whether to recognize Russia election results: Spox
Peter Stano, the chief spokesperson for the European Union's external affairs, said Thursday that each member of the EU will decide whether to recognize Russia's impending presidential election, adding that the group would first have to observe the entire process.
Stano explained during a briefing that "decision about recognition or non-recognition of elections is for the member states to consider after we see the whole process."
The spokesperson also stated that the European Commission will not comment on the election until it takes place and that Brussels will not accept the results in Russia's accessioned regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
