Penza, 13 September 2015. PenzaNews. The first secretary of the Penza region CPRF party committee, regional Legislative Assembly deputy Georgy Kamnev has cast his vote during the regional gubernatorial election on Sunday, September 13. He voted at the polling station No. 108 located in the school No. 77.

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He arrived at the voting station at 11.50 accompanied by his party co-members: Sergei Padalkin, head of the press office of the regional CPRF committee; the latter’s assistant Margarita Abramova; and assistant to the Russian Duma Deputy Vladimir Simagin, Konstantin Spiridonov. They all cast their votes at the same polling station.

The atmosphere in the both school buildings was festive, with loud music – mostly remixed Russian folk songs – and a crafts and foods fair.

The voters also enjoyed the performances of children’s arts troupes.

It took Georgy Kamnev less than four minutes to receive his ballot, make his choice in the voting box and cast the vote.

Georgy Kamnev said he is always happy during the election days.

“An election is always an act of hope for something: for your life to get better, for actual changes that would benefit the people – so, of course, we always go to vote with hope in hand,” the deputy said.

When a PenzaNews agency reporter asked him about the wishes to the soon-to-be-governor, the leader of the Penza Communists was quick to answer.

“Naturally, I would wish the new governor to achieve success in his work and always follow the interests of the regular people – those who elect the governor into his office,” the speaker stressed.

Georgy Kamnev also added that he has no information on major violations during the Penza region election and the whole process seems to continue calmly.

“There were some [violations], but I wouldn’t call them anything major. There were small complaints, but they were rectified as the day went on. So overall I can say the campaign goes calmly so far,” the regional Legislative Assembly deputy pointed out.

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.