Russia's Putin votes online on first day of election

Moscow, March 16

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is running for the country's top office again as an independent candidate, cast his electronic vote in the presidential elections, Russia-based TASS reported.

Putin voted online.

Footage released by the Kremlin showed Putin walking towards a computer in his office, casting his vote and then smiling and waving at the camera. A notification on the computer monitor then read that a vote had been successfully cast. 

It was not the first time that Putin cast his vote online. In the last few years, the Russian President cast his vote online during the autumn single election day.

The ongoing polling to elect the Russian President marks the first time that online voting has been made available, according to TASS report.

More than 3.5 million people cast their vote online on the first day of the presidential election across Russia, TASS reported, citing the e-voting monitoring portal.

As of 7:28 pm (local time), as many as 3,500,331 ballots were issued to voters in 28 Russian regions, who had applied for voting online. The federal platform of electronic voting recorded a 73 per cent voter turnout on the first day, TASS reported.

As many as 4.76 million people in Russia planned to cast votes on the federal platform, the state agency reported, adding that people in Moscow could vote on the city's own platform and were not required to apply for remote voting prior to the polls.

More than 180 election experts from 58 countries are overseeing the Russian presidential election. They are witnessing the elections at the invitation of the Russian Civic Chamber's (CC) invitation, the CC said in a statement on the Telegram channel, TASS reported.

"At the invitation of the Russian Civic Chamber, 185 foreign election experts from 58 countries came to Russia to independently conduct public observation," the statement read. The message was displayed during the 24-hour online stream of the CC election observing situation centre, according to officials.

The Russian Federation Council, or Upper House of the Duma, initially declared March 17, 2024 as the date for the presidential election. However, later, the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) announced that voting would take place over three days-- from March 15 to 17. 

The candidates, who have pitted themselves against Putin for the top post in the country are Vladislav Davankov, Leonid Slutsky and Nikolay Kharitonov.

The New People Party picked Vladislav Davankov to run for the highest office while Putin was a self-designated candidate. Leonid Slutsky of the LDPR party and Nikolay Kharitonov also entered the fray, representing the Communist Party of Russia, according to TASS.

This is the first time that the presidential polls in Russia are being conducted over three days. According to Russian Central Election Commission Chair Ella Pamfilova, the people liked this format as it gives them more opportunity to cast votes in the presidential polls, TASS reported.

Putin has served four terms as Russian President. He was elected Russian President in 2000 and re-elected in 2004, 2012, and 2018, Al Jazeera reported. If he wins, Putin will serve another six years, due to constitutional amendments that have expanded the term. It would mark his fifth term in office. He could be re-elected in 2030 for a sixth term.

#Russia #Vladimir Putin