Penza, 14 September 2015. PenzaNews. The chairman of the Penza region election committee Nikolai Taktarov has thanked the residents of the region for actively voting during the September 13 gubernatorial election, as well as the candidates for remaining honest.

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“I would like to address the voters for displaying such a firm civil position and not sitting out. The yesterday was tempting to go to the country, have a rest somewhere, spend time with your family, make up on the garden,” the election committee head said during a briefing held in the morning of Monday, September 14.

The now complete election campaign in the Penza region was remarkable for its honest competition between the candidates without any “black PR,” he said.

“The reciprocal relationships between the candidates may have had its effect: we did not have a single scandal newspiece,” Nikolai Taktarov suggested.

He also added that the Penza region election committee always calls for the candidates of every election to play fair.

“We always ask them: do not build your campaign upon smearing the opponents – the voters dislike it when you try to win this way, – but instead build upon attracting people to your persona: [show] your plans and programs. […] We did not have a single candidate [during the September 13 election] who’d provoke a conflict or a scandal. Everything was very polite. I was present there, saw the debates, saw their stance toward each other,” the election committee head stressed.

He also thanked all people who were involved in preparations and execution of the Penza region gubernatorial election.

“It was a long period of work for us – for 3 months. All polling station committees, territorial committees, the regional one – about 10,000 people were making the success of the future together, so to say. And it’s necessary to give the authorities credit where credit is due: the regional government was fully involved, as preparing an event as large as the regional-level election is a tough task. Next come the heads of municipal bodies. I am not even mentioning the directors of schools and so forth. The public services – the police, the prosecutors, the EMERCOM, the migration service, and more. Many organizations were involved for the success. And the figures we see are the result,” Nikolai Taktarov said, adding that the turnout for the election reached 62.26%.