Penza, 14 September 2015. PenzaNews. The secretary of the regional United Russia party branch, acting governor of the Penza region Ivan Belozertsev, candidate for the September 13 Penza region gubernatorial election, remains in the sure lead in the election after 1,073 polling station protocols of 1,105 (over 97%) were complete as of 3.00 am of Monday, September 14.

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Currently, Ivan Belozertsev (United Russia) holds 85.88% of the vote; Vladimir Simagin (CPRF) – 7.85%; Zhigansha Tuktarov (LDPR) – 2.90%; Gennady Yeroshin (“A Just Russia”) – 1.36%; Vladimir Popkov (“Rodina”) – 0.99%, the regional election committee informed PenzaNews agency.

The dynamics of the figures over the past hour did not affect the situation in any significant way: according to the election committee, the outcome is highly unlikely to change.

Earlier, the leader of United Russia in Penza thanked the members of his election headquarters for fruitful work after the end of the Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev select meeting with the party leaders in the evening of Sunday, September 13.

In particular, he expressed his gratitude to the Penza region Legislative Assembly chairman Valery Lidin, the regional parliament deputies Vadim Supikov and Ildar Akchurin, the acting head of the governor’s and the regional government staff Larisa Ryabikhina, and other party coworkers.

As PenzaNews agency reported earlier, September 13 was 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 and were protected by some 1,500 police officers.

All five officially registered candidates – Ivan Belozertsev (United Russia), Vladimir Simagin (CPRF), Zhigansha Tuktarov (LDPR), Vladimir Popkov (“Rodina”) and Gennady Yeroshin (“A Just Russia”) – have cast their votes in their voting areas before 12.00.

Among the people who did the same before noon are the chairman of the Penza region Legislative Assembly Valery Lidin, the Penza city head Victor Kuvaytsev, the State Duma deputy Igor Rudensky, the former governor Vasily Bochkarev, and the first chairman of the CPRF regional committee, regional Legislative Assembly deputy Georgy Kamnev.

The electoral lists of the Penza region includes 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.