Russians cast their ballots to elect parliament
Russians are voting in polls that will decide the shape of the lower house, or Duma, for the next five years. Russia's sixth parliamentary elections first kicked off in the Far Eastern regions of Kamchatka and Chukotka on Sunday. A total of seven political parties are competing for 450 seats in the State Duma. Local media said that some 55 percent of the 110 million eligible voters are expected to cast their ballots in some 96,000 domestic polling stations and some 370 overseas stations in more than 140 other countries. The seven political parties competing in the elections are the ruling United Russia party, the main opposition the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, A Just Russia, the Yabloko (Apple), the Patriots of Russia and the Right Cause. Some 3,000 candidates have been registered on the federal lists.