Penza, 13 September 2015. PenzaNews. The State Duma deputy, member of the United Russia party General Council Presidium Igor Rudensky has cast his vote during the regional gubernatorial election on Sunday, September 13. He voted at the polling station at his place of residence registration located in the building of the secondary school No. 25 in Penza city.

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Igor Rudensky arrived to the polling station immediately after the opening time: it was crowded in spite of the early hours. The deputy talked to the voters and then cast his choice himself.

The Russian Duma deputy told the journalists about the importance of this day, as this is the first time in several years when the Penza region citizens can choose the governor on their own.

“From my point of view, the election campaign was rather calm and generally positive. All candidates from various parties are patriots of the Sura land. The future of the Penza region depends on the chosen governor. And I believe the Penza citizens will choose a worthy person who will continue the effective regional development policy,” said Igor Rudensky.

As PenzaNews agency reported earlier, September 13 is the day of the Penza region gubernatorial election, as well as special elections of deputies for local government bodies of several municipalities.

All 1,105 polling stations in the Penza region for the gubernatorial election opened at 8.00. They will remain operational until 20.00, at which point vote counting will begin.

The five officially registered candidates for the Penza region gubernatorial election are Vladimir Simagin (CPRF), Zhigansha Tuktarov (LDPR), Ivan Belozertsev (United Russia), Gennady Yeroshin (“A Just Russia”) and Vladimir Popkov (“Rodina”).

According to the Penza region Ministry of the Interior department, some 1,500 police officers will protect the public peace during the unified election day.

The Penza region election committee estimates the voter turnout for the gubernatorial election at 45-50%. However, as no minimum turnout level was set beforehand, the election will be deemed valid regardless of the eventual constituent turnout.

As of 18.00 of Saturday, September 12, the electoral registers of the Penza region include a total of 1,085,392 persons.

The previous public gubernatorial election in the Penza region were held in 2002, 13 years ago, when Vasily Bochkarev won the vote and went over for the second term, leaving behind his closest competitor Victor Ilyukhin, State Duma deputy for the Communist Party.