Polls open in Moscow in presidential election

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, March 14, 2004

Polls open in Moscow in presidential election

Polls opened here Sunday to voters in Russia's presidential election that is expected to hand a crushing victory to current President Vladimir Putin.

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Polls opened here Sunday to voters in Russia's presidential election that is expected to hand a crushing victory to current President Vladimir Putin.

Polling stations in the Russian capital opened at 8:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT), nine hours after voting had started in the vast nation's Far East regions of Chutotka and Kamchatka.

The stations here will receive voters from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time in the country's third presidential election since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Although five people are challenging Putin for the presidency, none of them has any chance of winning. The Russian leader is expected to get at least 60 percent of the vote while his rivals are expected to poll in single digits.

A total of 95,000 polling stations across 11 time zones in Russia are scheduled to open to voters from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p. m.local time.

Nearly 1.3 million overseas Russians will vote at 353 polling stations set at Russian embassies and consular offices in foreign countries.

Recent opinion polls put Putin at the first place with popularity around 70 percent.

Earlier, an election officials forecast that more than 60 percent of the 109 million eligible voters will take part in the poll, higher than the 50 percent threshold that is necessary to make the election valid.

Security has been tightened ahead of the poll, especially in large cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. In Moscow, some 22,000 police officers and interior servicemen have been mobilized to guard the polling stations and ensure social security.

Source: Xinhua

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