The first polling stations opened in the Kamchatka territory, the Chukotka, Magadan and Sakhalin regions and some districts in Yakutia.

All the seven political parties registered in Russia are taking part in the polls for the first time in the history of modern Russia. The ballot papers include the Just Russia Party, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Patriots of Russia, the Communist Party of Russia, the Yabloko party, the United Russia Party and the Right Cause Party. About 3,000 candidates have been included in the federal party lists. It means that seven candidates will be running for one deputy mandate in the 450-seat lower chamber of Russian parliament.

This year’s election campaign has been unprecedented by the number of regional elections. Votes in 27 Russian regions are going to elect deputies to local legislatures alongside with deputies to the State Duma. According to the Central Electoral Commission, 2,800 people are expected to vote in Russia at elections of various levels and in local referendums on December 4.

Russia has 96,000 polling stations of which 376 will be working in 146 countries.

Apart from members of electoral commissions of various levels, more than 500,000 observers from the parties will monitor the elections.

The Russian Central Electoral Commission will start announcing preliminary vote results at 21:00 Moscow time on December 4. It has promised to announce all preliminary results at 10:00 Moscow time on December 5.

The official results of the State Duma elections are to be summed up not later than December 19 and published before December 24. However, the Central Electoral Commission may finish its work earlier and the State Duma of the sixth convocation may get down to work even before the end of 2011.