Day of Silence Ahead of Russian Parliamentary Election Goes Without Incidents

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Today, any campaigning and political advertising in Russia is prohibited, while the voters should make up their mind before the polling stations open at 8 a.m. Moscow time (05:00 GMT) on September 18.

Calm Before Election

For the first time since 2003, Russian nationals will elect the parliament's lower chamber of 450 seats in the framework of the mixed voting system: half of the lawmakers will be elected from the party lists, while another 225 seats are contested in a single-member constituency race. Fourteen parties have registered their lists of candidates, while about 2,100 candidates will compete in single-member districts.

A total of 39,500 seats are up for the vote as elections to dozens of municipal and regional bodies throughout the country will be held on the same day. In some regions, voters will receive up to nine voting papers.

On Saturday, only printed campaign materials placed on stationary objects earlier in accordance with the law, as well as billboards, can remain in place, provided that they are located no closer than some 160 feet from the polling stations.

Only One Complaint

Late on Saturday, Russia's Central Election Commission said that all participants of the election campaign paid respect to the electoral legislation since the committee received only one complaint in the Moscow region.

"The CEC hotline received one complaint from the Moscow region, we are checking it," CEC Secretary Maya Grishina told RIA Novosti.

According to the official, one of the candidates complained on his rival. This is the only complaint, which is considered at the level of the CEC, all the rest are solved at the scene, she pointed out.

Observers Satisfied

The observers have recorded no serious violations as Russia observes the pre-election silence day.

“In general, the situation is fully in line with the legislation. We have not registered any gross violations,” Igor Borisov, a co-chair of the monitoring working group of the presidential Council on human rights (HRC), told RIA Novosti.

He pointed to a high level of public awareness ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections.

“We have registered a few, I would rather say no attempts to breach the legislation in any way during the day of silence. This is possibly due to an increased level of legal culture and a better understanding that people today are more scrupulous, more literate and willing to vote only for those candidates who run a fair, lawful campaign,” Borisov added.

Yaroslav Avilov, who heads the executive committee of the monitoring group For Fair Elections told RIA Novosti that the only violation was registered in Kursk region, where a banner campaigning for the candidate of one of the parties was installed on a car.

Meanwhile he noted that the participants of the election process were more attentive to both each other and law.

“Everything is in line with law. We will hope that the election day will also run smoothly,” Avilov said.

27 Detained

The relatively calm day of silence was marred by the detention of 27 people campaigning for one of the candidates in Moscow.

According to Moscow City Police, unidentified people were distributing leaflets in support of a candidate. They were later detained and sent to regional police departments.