Penza, 18 September 2016. PenzaNews. Sufficiently high turnout in the region, despite the negative outlook indicates public confidence in the electoral system and the state as a whole. Such an opinion was expressed by the first secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Penza region of the fifth convocation Georgy Kamnev, who voted at polling station No. 108 in school No. 77, Antonova Street, where Mayor Victor Kuvaytsev voted a little earlier.

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“This means that they [...] believe that with the help of elections things can be changed for the better. It is also very important. It is very good. I see it as a very positive trend,” he said.

Georgy Kamnev noted that the elections in the Penza region are well-organized.

“We have not registered any major violations, let us hope that it will last throughout the rest of the voting day,” the deputy of the regional parliament stressed.

As PenzaNews reported earlier, on September 18, in addition to the State Duma elections, the region holds by-elections of deputies of the Penza City Council in the 17 th and 19 th single-member districts, the election of representatives of the Assembly of Deputies in Kamenka and Serdobsk areas, as well as deputy elections to the local authorities in 19 areas.

During State Duma elections each voter receives two ballots — the federal and single-mandate constituencies. In the first case one may vote for one of 14 parties registered by the CEC. In the second ballot, the voter gives preference to a particular candidate.

“Against all” box is not presented in both ballots. It was abolished in all types of elections in 2006, but then returned during municipal elections in 2014.

The elections will be considered valid with any turnout. In the Penza region it has traditionally been higher than the average in Russia. So, 13 years ago, the turnout in the region during parliamentary elections it was more than 57%, in 2007 about 70%, and in 2011 almost 65%.

According to the election committee of the Penza region, the turnout at noon — 25.3%.