The Federation of Russia has boasted that its electoral system is one of the best in the world.
Speaking on Saturday while interacting with international observers and delegates to Novosibersk, the governor of that region, Andrei Travnikov said the country was ready for any form of further scrutiny with regards to the credibility of the ongoing exercise.
According to Travnikov, the electoral system had worked in the past, including the last governorship election and there is no doubt it will be successful in the ongoing presidential election.
Addressing the issue of low turnout of young voters at the various polling units visited by the observers, the governor insisted that young people would always want to do things their own way, stating that since they are electronically inclined, they are likely to go with the electronic voting option. He also argued that, “the overall turnout of voters can only be determined on the last day of the exercise.
“We are likely to see more people coming out to vote on the last day of the election.”
Recall that the Russian presidential elections started on Thursday, March 15 and it’s expected to be concluded on Sunday, March 17.
President Vladimir Putin is seeking another term in office, squaring it up against the other three candidates, including Leonid Slutsky, Nikolai Kharitonov and Vladislav Davankov..
The odds, however, favour the sitting president as opinion polls suggest the others are no match for him.
Speaking on the transparency of the exercise, Travnikov said the ongoing election in Russia “was as transparent as ballot boxes themselves,” challenging anyone with a different opinion to prove him wrong.
While dismissing the fear that holding an election for three days could create room for manipulation and other forms of corrupt practices, the governor said, “we have tried this before and worked, and this time will even be better. I assure you, there is nothing to fear. The three-day exercise was a mother of necessity during the pandemic and when we saw that it worked, we decided to adopt it constitutionally.”
AFRIPOST observes that election in Novosibersk remains generally peacefully as the people go about with their normal business activities while voting continues.
Polling units are situated across schools in the region and teachers young students from the ad-hoc staff for the exercise.
More to come…