Penza, 18 September 2016. PenzaNews. The results of the elections to the Russian State Duma of the seventh convocation will be summed up not after the polling stations close on Sunday evening, September 18, but in 5 years, when actual results of work of the lower house of parliament are visible. This opinion was expressed by the deputy coordinator of the regional LDPR department Pavel Kulikov, who performed his civil duty at polling station No. 92, in the department of rehabilitation center of social assistance to families and children in Clara Zetkin Street.

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“The election results, in fact, will be announced not today, [...] but in five years, when the State Duma deputies will conduct their work. And only after that the population will be able to evaluate the results of these elections,” the agency interlocutor said.

He expressed the hope that on the voting day, the residents of the Penza region make a conscious choice in favor of candidates able to justify their confidence.

“I expect the new structure of the State Duma to be somewhat closer to the population,” Pavel Kulikov explained.

He drew attention to the fact that the elected representatives will have to re-gain the trust of the citizens.

“It's probably not a secret, one can ask any citizen today, what he associates with the word “deputy.” No one, I assure you, well, except for some tiny amount of people will respond to your question, that the deputy is a representative of the people, who defends their interests. In most cases, 95% of people will answer that it is an oligarch or person, who made his way to the State Duma, and there [...] “saw” the budget money. So, what I expect of the new State Duma is that they changed the view of the deputy. I think this is important,” the agency interlocutor stressed.

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, at noon the voter turnout amounted to 25.3%.