Polling stations are opening across Russia on Sunday in 82 administrative entities out of 85. Governors will be elected in 16 regions, local parliamentary elections will be held in six, and by-elections will be held for the federal parliament.
The stations opened at 8 a.m. Moscow time (05:00 GMT) in 10 regions where voters will be choosing the head of the region: the Belgorod, Kaliningrad, Kirov, Novgorod, Ryazan and Yaroslavl regions as well as the republics of Karelia, Mordovia and Mary El, and the federal city of Sevastopol, Sputnik reported.
The preliminary data from the Republic of Buryatia and the Sakhalin and Tomsk regions shows roughly the same turnout as in previous years.
Voter turnout in Sakhalin's regional parliamentary elections had totaled 19.37 percent so far, as of 3 p.m. local time. In Buryatia, the voter turnout to elect the head of the republic was at 17.42 percent, as of 12 p.m. local time.
In addition, the election of legislators who will sit in the country's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, during its seventh convocation will take place in two single-seat districts — Kingiseppsky district in the Leningrad Region and Bryansky district.
About 46 million voters are expected to take part in the elections.