Penza, 18 September 2016. PenzaNews. Sergei Esyakov, deputy of State Duma of the sixth convocation who came to polling station No. 131 located in the Penza house of children and youth creativity, to perform his civil duty, urged young people not to remain indifferent to the future of the country and to vote in elections to the lower house of the Russian parliament.

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“I especially appeal to the young people, those who come for the first time today, make the right choice, think about the future,” he said.

Sergei Esyakov added that the elections of deputies of the State Duma are the main political event of the year.

“If we are not indifferent to what is happening in the country, if we are not indifferent to the processes that are taking place, we have to express our position — the position on how Russia will develop, what direction it will follow. I want it to develop rapidly, qualitatively, so that we have a strong country, economically developed country, a democratic country,” he stressed.

Sergei Esyakov expressed the hope that the new structure of the Russian State Duma includes professionals who care about the interests of people.

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, on September 18 the turnout of the first two hours of voting was 9.3%.