Moscow (Union)
The Russian Election Commission confirmed that the electronic voting system suffered a malfunction yesterday due to the large number of voters trying to vote.
On the first day of the three-day voting process, about 500,000 people in Moscow alone cast their votes yesterday morning, according to the Central Election Commission.
The leadership in Moscow wants to see the highest possible voter turnout. Officials said that voter turnout reached 24 percent and that 27 million people had cast their votes by yesterday evening.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is widely expected to win a fifth term. Official Russian opinion polls expect President Putin to receive more than 80 percent of the votes. This will be his highest result ever.
The head of the Just Russia Party, Sergei Mironov, placed his ballot paper in the transparent ballot box without an envelope.
There are three rivals to Putin. The head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, said that more than 333,000 people were monitoring the elections and that everything was going “normally.”
But at the same time, she pointed out that there were some irregularities in electronic voting from the beginning. She attributed the problems to the fact that a large number of voters wanted to cast their votes electronically.
In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed yesterday to respond to the Ukrainian attacks on his country's territory, considering that the recent armed ground incursions carried out by pro-Ukrainian fighters aim to disrupt the presidential elections. Putin, who voted online on the first day of the elections, stressed that Ukrainian strikes against Russian territory, which have increased in recent days, will not go “without punishment.”
On the other hand, at least 16 people were killed and about 60 were injured in one of the largest Russian missile attacks on the large coastal city of Odessa in southern Ukraine, which had previously been targeted twice in recent days.
Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odessa region, told state television that two Iskander-M missiles were launched from the Crimean peninsula and damaged vital infrastructure in the southern city. He added that some residents are facing interruptions in gas and electricity supplies as a result of the attacks.
“Our defense forces will certainly do everything possible to ensure that the Russians receive an equal response,” Zelensky said via Telegram.
Yesterday, the Russian army also announced that it had repelled several ground incursions by fighters from Ukraine since March 12, noting that it was forced to use artillery and aviation.
Putin considered these attacks to be “an attempt to destabilize the presidential elections.”
On the eve of the presidential elections, President Putin, 71, urged his citizens not to “deviate from the path” in these “difficult” times, in reference to the special military operation against Ukraine that has been ongoing for more than two years. In a Moscow school, dozens of people came as the polling station opened. Ludmila, a 70-year-old retiree, confirmed that she wants “first and foremost to achieve victory” in Ukraine, stressing that, in her opinion, this means voting for Vladimir Putin.
Former worker Nathan, 72, also voted for Putin, hoping for additional job opportunities.
Putin's victory in these elections would allow him to remain in power until 2030. He can run again and remain in office until 2036.
Ukraine increased its military pressure on the Russian regions of Belgorod and Kursk, adjacent to its borders, which were targeted by several attacks by marches and incursions by military units that included Russians opposed to the Kremlin.
One civilian was killed and two others were injured in Belgorod in Ukrainian bombing, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced.
In parallel, drone attacks increased in the Russian border areas, as well as areas located hundreds of kilometers from the front line, as Kiev pledged to respond to the bombing that Ukraine has been exposed to for more than two years.
#Moscow #High #turnout #presidential #elections