The “voting” of the show-like presidential elections in Russia has started on Friday and sneaky work has not been avoided.
Risto Mattila,
Saana Uosukainen
In Russia, the authorities have arrested at least seven people for vandalism at the polling stations on the first day of voting in the show presidential election.
Five people in at least four districts poured some dye inside the ballot boxes. One was arrested for setting ballots on fire and the other for lighting fireworks at the polling station.
In addition, St. Petersburg’s local media reports that a fuel bottle has been thrown towards the election apartment. The police had arrested the young woman for the act, says Russian Fontanka on her Telegram channel. The woman faces charges for a terrorist attack.
Another woman threw a fuel bottle on the roof of the school. One of the polling stations has been opened for the school in question.
There was an explosion at a Russian-occupied polling station in Ukraine. The Russian occupation regime accuses Ukraine of firing at polling stations.
In Siberia, in the Hanti-Mansi region, a woman was arrested for trying to burn a ballot box with a fuel bottle.
According to the local media, there have also been reports of similar illegal activities on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia has illegally annexed.
In Russia, they can be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison.
Venäläislehti: Special voting percentages in the St. Petersburg area
In the St. Petersburg region, special voting percentages have been reported on the first day of voting, says the independent Bumaga-publication. According to it, some of the workers in St. Petersburg were forced to vote, because their work was monitored more closely because of voting.
According to the media, it was special that in the Kurortnyi district, located next to St. Petersburg, on the Karelian Isthmus, the turnout was 27 percent, and in the Vyborg region, on the other hand, only 11 percent, even though election officials had reported long queues of workers in Vyborg.
According to Russian media sources, doctors in the village of Pesotsnyi had instead voted in the region with a high turnout.
A 71-year-old Vladimir Putin election victory is considered certain, as his political opponents are either in prison or have fled the country. Some have been killed.
Putin’s power apparatus controls, among other things, who can run for office in the elections.
Election observers do not believe that the Russian presidential elections will show signs of free and fair elections. Election observation in general is almost impossible. No significant election observer has been approved.
Sources: AFP, AP, Reuters