Penza, 12 September 2014. PenzaNews. The percentage of early voters in the elections to Penza City Duma of the sixth convocation is not high, said Nikolai Taktarov, chairman of the Regional Election Commission, during a reporter conference on Friday, September 12.

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The chairman of the Regional Election Commission also commented on the information which appeared in the federal and regional media last Thursday, September 11, according to which the percentage of early voters went above 5% in several regions of Russia, and this situation is a major concern in the Kremlin.

According to him, a five-per-cent rate norm of early voters is not specified in any law or guide.

“Nobody ever stated these figures for us because it is illegal. It may be 5% in one region, 10% in another, and 15% in another one. We analyze and carry out monitoring daily. 2.7% voted earlier in Penza city. This is far from 5%, and why Penza was in the list of allegedly disadvantaged cities, is for us to find out,” Nikolai Taktarov said.

According to the chairman of the Regional Election Commission, the announcement about the five-per-cent rate is a response to the progress of early voting in St. Petersburg.

“They detected numerous violations there. People are taken by bus on some free tours in Kronstadt, from there to the polling stations to vote. And the figure [5%] has already been exceeded there. This issue was recently discussed by the CEC. Perhaps that is why now they attempt to control the process somehow, to put some kind of boundaries. But we have no glaring facts that someone somewhere controlled the voters,” he said.

As news agency PenzaNews reported earlier, the election of deputies of Penza City Duma on 35 majoritarian constituencies will take place on September 14.

Early voting started on Wednesday, September 3, and ends on Saturday night.